Way of the World
by easytoimagine
Summary: Klaroline drabbles and oneshots.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! Ok, so this is just a little series of oneshots/ drabbles that I'll be writing. I'm going back to school next week so I don't think I'll have a lot of time to update my stories but I'll be updating this one every week to make up. I apologize in advance if any of them are crazy, my imagination sometimes just seems to run away with me.**

 **-This one is an alternative version of Ending Like No Other chapter 1 (when I was debating on whether to include Freya and Ansel).**

 **I hope you enjoy :D**

"It's meant to be this way." Freya spoke as she stood beside her father who kept his gaze locked onto Klaus. Mikael wiped Klaus' blood off his knuckle, the hybrid's split lip began to knit itself back again but the trail of the red liquid running down his chin remained allowing it to drip into his shirt and soak in.

"Freya! We trusted you!" Rebekah screamed as she tried to pull the stake from her shoulder but failed as Freya used her magic to lock it back into her muscles. "Why?!" She screamed.

"Dahlia promised me my freedom in exchange for your existence." After a beat she stepped forth looking at each Mikaelson: Rebekah as she was pinned to the wall by the stake in her shoulder with eyes full of anger and betrayal, Elijah as he lost his composure and struggled to break free of the magical metal vervain chains that were wrapped tightly around his torso trapping his arms beside him. Klaus, the man whose jaw was clenched, his eyes were full of contempt at the two stood before him.

"So the moment we took you in, it was all a ruse?" Elijah asked, his voice shook with underlying rage as he glared at the blond witch.

"I did what I had to do."

"But it's not over yet." Klaus hissed, his lips curled up into a smirk as he began pacing in front of them whilst scrutinizing the pair.

"Klaus, we both know how this is going to end, just make it easier on yourself." Freya said with fake sincerity earning a scoff.

"Ah Freya, the _lost child,_ I'm genuinely awed at how you've survived having your head full of martyr thoughts. You are quite _remarkable._ "

"Says the _worthless boy,_ " Mikael bellowed back defending his daughter "the _beast_ who destroys everything he touches or comes close to." He chuckled before his eyes flickered to the balcony behind the hybrid, "Even your _son_ tried to get rid of you."

"Klaus…" Klaus turned to the choking voice, his eyes widened as he saw Marcel, Camille and Kol hovering in mid-air on the balcony as they grasped their throats. Klaus looked back at Freya who smirked as she raised her hand and made a tightening motion, he heard the trio begin spluttering behind him.

"You'll pay for touching them." Klaus hissed. Mikael gave him a smirk before he launched himself at his step-son. Klaus was ready for the attack and reached out wanting to thrust his hand into the man's chest but failed and grasped his neck instead with all his strength, Mikael kicked his legs wanting to make him kneel before him but was swung round to be thrown into the stone wall instead. Klaus gritted his teeth as he ran at Mikael but slowed to an eventual stop as his head was filled with pounding, he spun facing Freya who watched him intently her lips turning up at the corners.

"Ah…" Klaus moaned as he fell to his knees with the pain overwhelming him. He felt the sizzling run across his temples down towards the back of his neck, it was a burning sensation he had only felt a fraction of before with other witches. Freya was much, _much,_ stronger.

Mikael grinned as he flashed up and ambled towards Klaus' kneeling body, the latter continued to clutch his head tightly. "Why thank you Freya…" The older man before kicking his foot against Klaus' back making him collapse to the floor, he turned the hybrid over and knelt beside him one leg up as he rested his arm on it, his hand took Klaus' chin firmly, "I always knew you were _weak."_ He hissed before getting ready to plunge his hand into Klaus chest.

"No!"

"Nik!"

Both Rebekah and Elijah screamed out, fighting for a way to break out of their confines and aid their brother who was writhing in agony as Freya continued her onslaught. All five had their eyes locked onto the scene. They held their breaths as they watched Mikael lunge his hand towards Klaus' chest.

But they were suddenly stunned.

Stunned as a brunette man crashed into Mikael with force knocking him away from Klaus.

"Keep your filthy hands away from my son." He bellowed out taking a protective stance in front of the hybrid still writhing on the floor before he came to a still and his eyes widened as he spotted the man with his back to him glaring at Mikael. The latter flashed up analysing the brunette before recognition hit him and a dark chuckle left his mouth.

"This is… _priceless."_ He spoke with a mincing undertone, "I killed you once, I'd gladly do it again."

"Touch him and _she's_ dead." A voice rang out echoing throughout the room. Mikael looked at her trying to place her but couldn't find any recollection of the woman who now stood behind Freya with her arm wrapped around the witch's neck and a silver dagger aimed at her heart.

Klaus' head snapped to the side finding the hard voice he knew well. He observed her, her blond hair seemed longer, her stance straighter as if she had faced the world and defeated it already. Her eyes were calculating as they stared straight into Mikael's without breaking the gaze.

"Caroline?" Rebekah whispered thought the whole room heard. Caroline nodded but never let her eyes leave Mikael's, she had been told story upon story about him, she had even witnessed his onslaught, his behaviour, his actions…she had seen and forged a hefty mark over his head. She wanted him dead. It was how it was always meant to be.

"The one and only." She whispered, her breath running past Freya's ear as she held her closely.

Marcel, Davina and Camille collapsed immediately after Caroline had got to Freya, they supported themselves against the balcony as they tried to catch their breaths.

Ansel held his hand out for Klaus to take, after a moment's hesitation he grasped it and pulled himself up finding the brunette man still standing protectively in front of him.

"It's been a while, Ansel."

"That it has, Mikael." Mikael's lip curled up in disgust before he looked at Klaus and grinned.

"Well boy, ready to meet the beast who never came looking for you? Let's have at it shall we. This, _boy,_ is the man who abandoned you all those years ago." Klaus remained emotionless as he blankly stared at Mikael hoping with all hope that what the latter hinted at was nothing but another ruse.

"He's lying." Ansel spoke, his voice hardening.

"I suppose you'll never know." He murmured before flashing towards Klaus who had been momentarily distracted by Ansel, Mikael pushed Ansel out of the way making his crumble to the floor as he grasped Klaus and came to stand opposite Caroline who tightened her hold on Freya and moved the dagger closer to her chest. "Now, _Caroline,_ release my daughter." The blond glanced at Ansel who straightened up and kept his eyes on Klaus, she looked at the hybrid herself before returning her gaze to Mikael.

"Let Klaus go…and I'll think about it." She replied with a light smirk. Mikael gritted his teeth before smirking as he pulled out a white oak stake and slowly pressed it against Klaus' chest whilst the latter looked at the weapon with wide eyes.

"Now where did you get that from?" He said in an ice cold tone covering the fear that ran through him.

"Would you believe me if I told you I'd simply found it." Klaus furrowed his brow, the stake was supposed to be safely locked up in his personal vault in his art studio back at the mansion, how the hell had it gotten into Mikael's hands? "I can sense you're a vampire, little girl, so I'm going to tell you once more, release Freya, or I'll use the stake on the boy and come after you next."

Caroline didn't move.

"You can't kill me, I have a protection spell on myself so your little dagger will do absolutely nothing." Caroline smirked as she tilted her head closer to Freya's keeping her eyes on Mikael as she spoke.

"But this little dagger will strip you of your magic leaving you defenceless." Caroline spoke, "A little gift from the 'Other Side'." She murmured into her ear though they all heard.

Mikael looked at Freya, he couldn't lose her, not again. So instead he decided to distract the blond vampire, "That friend of yours, the Bennett witch. Did she recover after our little… _rendezvous?_ " He tilted his head, the blonde swallowed. "She did seem weakened after our encounter, though I must say her blood was _exquisite._ But she's dead now, isn't she?" Mikael faked a pout before he lit up, "But I'm sure Freya could bring your friend back, couldn't you my daughter?"

"I'm sure I could, I have more magic than the Bennett line, all it would take would be a quick spell."

Mikael suppressed the smirk as he saw Caroline's eyes water, Freya raised her hands slowly and set them against the blonde's arm lightly, "I can bring her back, Caroline. It'd only take a moment." She could feel the hold on her neck loosen slightly so she kept going. "She was your best friend right?"

"Don't listen to her!" Rebekah screamed as she watched Caroline nod her head lightly at Freya's words.

"I can bring her back, she'll be here just like she was then." Her voice was so soft and reassuring.

"All you have to do it let Freya go so she bring her back, you'd like that wouldn't you?"

Freya held back the smirk as she felt Caroline slowly release her, the blond let the dagger slip from her fingers as tears ran down her cheek. "You can bring her back?" Freya heard Caroline whisper.

"Of course." The witch replied.

The others watched in disbelief, they saw Caroline step back and become obscured by Freya. "She was lying! You stupid twit!" Rebekah screamed.

Freya smirked keeping her back to Caroline as she picked up the dagger in her fingers before she turned ready to kill the baby vampire.

 _Bang._

A gunshot rang through the entire building, everyone's eyes widened as they saw Freya's body fall to the ground revealing Caroline stood with a gun grasped in her hands.

"Bitch." Caroline murmured.

"No!" Mikael yelled out, his voice was suddenly cut off as Caroline strode towards him and unloaded her gun, she hit his chest then his knees, she aimed at his hand causing him to drop the stake in shock. Klaus stepped aside slowly as he watched Mikael fall and clutch at the wounds.

"These bullets were made for you…" Caroline whispered just as another bang sounded but originated from Mikael's body itself, another rang out as bits of flesh spluttered away from his chest. "Enjoy."

She continued to stride closer before standing over him and glaring at him darkly. " _This_ for what you did a thousand years ago…" she shot him three times all aimed at his heart causing him to scream and writhe, "and this…this one's for Bonnie." She aimed at his head and put all the bullets she had left into his skull, each exploding in his head one by one as blood splattered across Caroline who remained unfazed.

Moments passed after the last bang went out, Caroline tilted her head studying Mikael's mangled body before she picked up the white oak stake and tossed it towards Klaus who stared at her. "He's all yours…"


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone, I honestly don't know how I found time to write this with school work and uni applications.**

 **Enjoy, sorry if there are any mistakes I'm seriously lacking sleep:)**

Caroline looked down the street, the cloudless blue sky hovered over the city whilst people bustled over the cobbled streets. She tilted the light cream trilby hat sitting onto of her golden curls down slightly causing a shadow to fall over her eyes. She ambled down the street taking in the loud, eccentric atmosphere that enveloped her the moment she had entered the Quarter as the air danced sizzling across her skin.

Pursing her lips she came to stand in the middle of the street as people rushed by her, she glanced down at her phone where the name of the Original hybrid was lit up on the screen, the blond nibbled at her lower lip before relenting and pocketing the phone.

Her eyes sought out a bar, a drink would most definatly be something that would calm her nerves which she needed after the butterflies that continued to bite inside her stomach. Seeing no such place, she continued down the street taking in the sights and sounds, the rich saxophone beat lingered in the air whilst the thumping of bass echoed from the buildings around her.

She squinted as she glanced up at the balconies were a few people lingered nursing a drink or simply gazing at the street below, she could instantly tell they were natives, the way their eyes ran over the entire street but came to halt over a few tourists who looked around in awe with cameras covering their faces. Their dress code was nothing to be garnered as most wore khaki shorts and bright shirts instantly signifying 'tourist'.

Huffing she turned onto the sidewalk instead and grinned as she picked out a little bar that exhumed richness and old décor. _Rousseau's._ She squinted as she saw a tall blond stride through the doors, her lips turned up into a smirk as she instantly became aware of who the person had been.

Taking a deep breath, she strode forth and followed the blond into the bar opening the door slowly allowing the musky scent of bourbon and whiskey to welcome her. She cautiously stepped in sliding past the members who were taking their leave, thankfully they didn't pay attention to the newcomer with the trilby hat that shadowed over her features.

She edged towards the wall and leaned against it as she took in the scene in front of her. A dark skinned man had all eyes on him as he belted a few notes owning the stage entirely, he winked at the blond bartender causing Caroline to roll her eyes as she watched a deep pink blush paint her cheeks, she fidgeted with a glass before sliding it across the bar to a customer who tipped their head in thanks.

Licking her plump lips, she continued to observe the bar. She could make out Rebekah's head of hair as she sat in one of the booths, pressing her lips together she glanced at the man sitting beside her.

 _Klaus Mikaelson._

It had been months since she'd seen him. Graduation had come and gone. Tyler came back and left again. With a newly single status. Katherine had come back. Her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Two months later…she was dead.

And now…now she was here.

 _Caroline gritted her teeth as she heard Katherine slam the door shut before throwing her-Elena's-bag across the room cracking the mirror that was clearly on Caroline's side of the room._

" _Hey!" The blond shrieked as she glared at Katherine who shrugged and fell back on the bed with a deep sigh. Caroline took a deep-supposedly calming-breath before returning her eyes on the AP biology book that sat in front of her on the desk covered in sticky notes and lined with highlighters as if the whole rainbow shone from just the first few pages._

 _Katherine sighed. Again._

 _Caroline ignored her. Again-well she most definitely tried but was forced to look at her when she felt a pillow hit her arm._

" _Seriously!" She narrowed her eyes at the brunette whose lips curved up into a sly smirk. Sighing, the blond tilted her head and looked at Katherine exasperatedly before dreading as she asked: "What do you want Katherine?"_

 _The brunette flipped to her side to face the blond with her elbow supporting her as her fingers ran through her tightly curled hair._

" _Party." Caroline scoffed before looking at the pile of books on her table then back to Katherine who rolled her eyes, a habit she had clearly picked up from the blond._

" _No." The blond turned back to the notes in front of her before they were swiftly pushed to the side making her highlighters fall to the ground. "What the hell, Katherine?" Caroline shrieked trying to prevent the doppleganger from creasing her papers, seeing her fingers curl around the corners of her notes the blond forfeited. "Fine, fine, fine…" she rubbed her temples then looked at the brunette tiredly, "…we'll party…"…._

… _It was the first time Katherine Pierce had ended up drunk out of her head supported by Caroline who was barely sober herself..._

" _He left me…" Katherine smacked her hand against the boot of the car as she gritted her teeth, Caroline could feel the alcohol begin to leave her system sobering her up, "He had no right!" the brunette continued to vent, "He blamed_ me. Me! _"_

 _Katherine let her head fall to rest on the cool metal of the car, Caroline rolled her head towards her as she gripped the top of the car feeling her sanity rush back to her as the tequila faded away, "Come on, Kath." Caroline murmured as she pulled the brunette away from the cold metal and gently eased her into the car where her eyes shut immediately, her light snores echoed in Caroline's ears as she got in and put the car in drive..._

 _...it was the first time Katherine Pierce had shown the slightest hint of the damage a certain suit-and-tie clad Original had done to her…._

"What can I get you?" Caroline heard, she lifted her head and saw the pale face of the blond bartender from earlier. Keeping her voice low enough to melt into the surrounding noise, she answered:

"3 shots of tequila." She ignored the raise of the bartender's brow as she caught the blond- _Cami, judging by her nametag_ \- glance at the clock noting the time, even Caroline had to admit that tequila at one in the afternoon seemed a bit earlier, but hey, Caroline was a vampire so to hell with all the social conventions that she no longer had to follow.

Besides, the blond vampire would most definitely every bit of courage she could again for what was about to come.

"I haven't seen you 'round here before." Cami tried to draw out a conversation form Caroline, feeling the need to simmer her nerves she obliged the human and answer.

"Yeah, it's my first time in the city."

"Oh? Well what brings you here then?" Cami fished gently, she had clearly noticed the lapis lazuli ring gracing the woman's finger and wasn't aware of any new incoming vampires. "Visiting?"

Caroline rolled her eyes internally, the girl was definatly the nosy type. Caroline licked her lips before nodding. "How long are you going to be staying for, Mardi Gras is coming up in a few days?"

"Hmm, maybe next time."

"So a short stay?"

"It'll be like I wasn't even here." She murmured, Camille heard the low whisper.

Caroline felt the hair on her neck stand to end as the door opened and in strode a fully suited brunette with eyes so cold that the blond wondered if they were made of ice. He ambled towards the far side making his way to his brother who chuckled lightly hearing Marcel tease Rebekah whilst the latter scowled at him.

Camille looked at Caroline intently, her eyes followed Elijah surreptitiously before landing on the Mikaelson clan, the blond vampire looked down into the burning embers of the tequila shot before swallowing hard and draining the liquid without hesitation. The human raised her brow before sliding the second shot in her direction and watched the glass still between her fingers effortlessly as she slid the empty glass back at the human who caught it moments before it would have hurtled off the bar.

Caroline trailed the tip of her finger along the rim of the glass before cautiously looking over her shoulder, her eyes were set on Elijah as he slid into the booth whilst sliding his fingers down his tie straightening it as he seated himself and listened to the conversation.

"You wanker!" Rebekah hissed towards Klaus before being casually interrupted,

"Language, Rebekah." Klaus returned a lazy smirk to Rebekah who leaned back and fumed at her older brother wondering if jamming the glass in front of her into his eyes was worth the mess the movement would make especially as she was wearing her new designer blouse.

"Yes, _dear sister,_ language." He mimicked Elijah with amusement causing his sister to grit her teeth as she grasped the glass and got ready to shove it into his eye socket.

Caroline couldn't help the curve of her lips as she listened in to the Originals acting like teenagers, it was quite refreshing after the mess she had temporarily left behind in Mystic Falls…

" _So what you're telling me is that a whole community of witches is after our town?!" Caroline hissed as she glared at Damon who gave her a smirk and shrugged._

" _Pretty much, blondie." He drained his glass of bourbon, setting it back on the table he turned to her and raised out his hands. "Well?"_

 _Caroline looked at him confused, "Well what?" He rolled his eyes and ambled closer._

" _Well, what's the plan?" The blond straightened as she glanced around the room._

" _Why are you asking me?"_

" _I'm clearly all out of ideas otherwise I'd have led our little group to safety by now, so…whose up next?" He looked around the room glancing at each and every person that stood in the space before his eyes settled on the Elena look-alike who had her legs swinging over the arm of the sofa that she lounged on with a clearly bored expression painted on her face. "How about you?" Katherine raised her brow, "Got any bright ideas you'd like to share?"_

 _Katherine pretended to think about it for a few seconds before looking back at the elder Salvatore, "Nope."_

" _Oh come on, nothing in that head of yours on how to escape a whole community of witches? You are after all the Queen of hide and seek, especially against the Original hybrid."_

" _Let me think about it…umm…nope." She threw a fake smile in his direction. Stefan looked between them._

" _Look, we've just got to think of something, we have a few hours before the Travellers find us, by then we'll have a fool-proof plan to get away from them."_

 _Damon pursed his lips and nodded as he looked at Stefan, he clapped his hand on his brother's shoulder and looked at him in faux awe. "I like your confidence, brother. I don't share it, but I definitely like it." He let his hand drop and turned back._

" _Any other bright ideas…?" No-one answered, he took in a deep breathe, "Great…" he muttered sarcastically._

 _ **A few hours later…**_

" _RUN!" Tyler screamed as he sprinted round the corner of the Mystic Grill only to come face to face with a hoard of Travellers, Caroline, Stefan, Katherine, Damon, Matt and Elena followed stooping immediately as the hybrid froze._

" _Shit, this way." Damon hissed as he pulled Elena along with him and ran down the street towards the Falls as the others followed._

 _Caroline felt her lungs burn as the cold air entered them, she fought for air as she ran following Damon and Elena whilst keeping Katherine in her sights. "Come on!" She screamed as she grabbed Katherine's wrist and dragged her along with her._

" _I hate being human!" Katherine exclaimed trying to push further but found her lungs working against her as she tried to take air in but it seemed to become sparse, she relied on Caroline to drag her along and hated that she no longer had her vampire strength._

 _They continued running for what felt like an eternity, their skin as they fought against it to keep pushing through the town to a safer place than were they were._

" _Shit!" Tyler exclaimed as they saw a line of Travellers awaiting them, they had seemingly cordoned off any further movement with their bodies and fallen trees that blocked the path as well. Most of the Travellers approached them slowly, a few beginning to gain speed either side of the path to hurtle towards the oncoming Mystic Falls gang._

" _This way." Damon pulled Elena away down a small dark alley, the others followed but were immediately blocked off as crates and dustbins were throw across the path. Thinking on her feet, the blond tightened her hold on Katherine's hand and swiftly dragged her away from the blocked path and ran towards a closed boutique._

 _Caroline's hair whipped across her face as she smashed the glass door and pulled Katherine through into the dark store._

" _Breaking and entering. Wow!" Katherine said impressed with the blonde's actions, the two women hurtled through the barricades of clothes on hangers and shoe displays before running down a small corridor into a little storage space were, thankfully, Caroline spotted a fire escape leading out back into the open._

" _Oh shut up!" Caroline hissed as she pushed the door open and edged forward finding the alleyway clear of obstruction, gesturing to the brunette who followed they ran down the path into an empty street which led straight to the edge of town._

 _Caroline grabbed Katherine's wrist, "Hey, not so hard, sunshine!" Katherine squirmed in the blonde's grip whilst Caroline ignored her keeping her eyes focused on both ends of the street making sure there were no Travellers heading in their direction._

 _Finding no one following them, Caroline pulled Katherine along the street keeping to the shadows of the walls as they moved quickly._

 _Caroline froze spinning round._

" _What?" Katherine glanced around them worriedly before returning her eyes to the Caroline's face._

" _No one's following us" she whispered lowly causing Katherine to furrow her brow._

" _Of course there isn't dummy, that's kind of the plan!" She hissed quietly making sure her voice didn't echo into the night, Caroline shook her head slowly keeping her eyes locked on the distance they had just covered._

" _If no one's following us, where the hell are they?" The brunette looked over her shoulder to see the vast emptiness that Caroline watched. "Stefan, Matt, Tyler? Where are they?" She murmured panicking, she stepped forth before being halted by the brunette._

" _Woah, woah, woah. What are you doing?" The blond scowled at Katherine._

" _We're going back to find them." She stated obviously stepping forth again before being dragged back by the human._

"We _are doing no such thing. You're my ticket out of here, sunshine. And there's no way I'm gonna' let you sacrifice yourself and me for them."_

 _Before the blond could argue back, the alley they had escaped from exploded throwing fire into the abandoned street causing glass to shatter and a heavy gust to push against the two girls. Sensing the imminent danger, Katherine grasped Caroline's arm and dragged her down the street whilst the latter continued to look over her shoulder trying to find any sign of her friends but failing._

" _Come on!" Katherine whispered bringing Caroline to a quicker run as shadows danced across the walls welcoming the presence of a crowd of Travellers that swarmed into the street. "Run."_

 _Grabbing the other's hand, both women ran through the street…_

"Hey, are you alright?" Caroline was snapped out of her thoughts as she looked up to see the girl looking at her worriedly, the blond vampire smirked remembering the vivid details of their past.

"Fine." Caroline answered simply. The bartender hesitated as she gently placed the third shot next to her.

"It's just…" Caroline tilted her head.

"Just what?" Camille leaned closer as if they were about to share a secret.

"You seem _lost._ " Caroline narrowed her eyes at the human, Camille backed away instinctively, "Sorry, it's just I'm a psychology major, it's what I do."

Caroline couldn't help the smile that spread across her lips, "I get it. Don't worry 'bout it. I'm a neurology major myself. And a journalism major." Caroline shrugged.

"Joint honours?"

"Nope." Camille looked at her in confusion.

"I didn't know you could major in both."

"You can't." Caroline said simply as she gave the human a sly grin, Camille looked at her suspiciously.

"What college are you going to?"

"I _went_ to NYU." Camille looked the vampire up and down, there was no way that the girl stood in front of the bartender was a day over 17, so how the hell did she already major in not one, but two degrees _and_ complete college already?

Caroline could see the questions in the human's eyes, she would have loved to answer such a simple minded creature but had better- _more urgent-_ things to do.

The blond vampire drained her second shot slamming the glass back onto the bar which Camille quickly pulled away. Caroline took in a deep breath as she reached out for the third short hesitating as she heard Camille speak again.

"You didn't answer my question." Caroline looked at her blankly, "Why you're here?" Caroline dragged the shot closer to her as she pursed her lips before meeting the human's eyes.

"Personal business." Camille grinned lightly thinking she had hitched onto what Caroline was saying.

"You're meeting someone?" Caroline rolled her eyes. "Anyone I know? It's practically the town square in here, I'm sure I've seen whoever you're looking for."

"So have I…" Caroline murmured under her breath ducking her head as she saw Elijah's gaze scan her bar…

" _You really need to evaluate your life choices, cupcake." Katherine said as the diamond bracelet dangled from between her fingers as she pinched a little unrolled parchment in her other hand. "Please tell me I'm not BFFs with the pyscho killer's little girlfriend."_

 _Caroline's eyes widened as she saw the items in the brunette's hands, she slammed the door shut behind her and flashed over to Katherine pulling the bracelet and paper away from her. "How did you- You were snooping around my stuff!"_

" _I was actually looking for my Verasache shoes." Katherine answered causing Caroline to pop out her hip with her hand on it as she glared at the brunette._

" _You mean the ones on your feet?" Katherine painted a look of faux-shock on her face before smirking._

" _Hmm, don't change the subject." She gestured towards the objects which Caroline was now placing in her 'memories' box. "What's with the pony drawing that Klaus, let me repeat_ Klaus, _drew for you and captioned with 'thank you for your honesty'. What the hell does that even mean?" Katherine sank onto the bed crossing her toned leg over the other._

" _Nothing." Caroline said offhandedly as she shoved the box to the back of her closet. "Now we really need to get going if we're gonna' talk to that witch." Katherine stared at the blond blankly trying to worm an answer out from the vampire but the latter didn't fall for it as she simply strode towards the door. "Well come on." She said stopping before she looked over her shoulder and threw a few more words over it, "Unless of course you want to remain human for the rest of your life."_

 _Katherine groaned as she slid off the bed and followed the blond who wore a triumphant smile. "This isn't over." Caroline rolled her eyes._

" _Yeah, it is…"_

Caroline glanced in the Mikaelsons direction noting that they all remained seated for now, Katherine had told her a few bits and pieces of the Original's lives in New Orleans, especially on Marcellus Gerard-the boy Klaus had raised.

The dark skinned man- _Marcellus-_ chuckled deeply as he leaned closer to Rebekah teasing her lightly whilst the blond Original rolled her eyes and ignored him.

"Come on, Bekah, I'm just joking. No need to take it to heart."

"Oh she takes _everything_ to heart." Klaus murmured under his breath causing Caroline to smile as she heard his luscious accent.

Camille backed away slowly rounding the corner as she glanced at Caroline who smiled to herself whilst looking over her shoulder. The human followed her line of sight and saw it settle on the Mikaelsons, she furrowed her brow. Better to be safe than sorry. She dug into her apron and pulled out her phone to send a message to the Mikaelsons.

Caroline leaned back, she had planned to ambush them of course but really couldn't be bother to deal with the entire population of the bar so instead she sat back and let the human do the work for her. _Let the mouse come to the cat._

The blonde vampire could hear Camille's fingers tapping against her phone as she proceeded to text.

A few seconds later she could feel his burning haze on her.

She refused to let herself look at him.

Klaus chuckled lightly as he heard the banter between Marcel and Rebekah, draining the bourbon in his glass he saw his phone vibrate, picking it up he opened the message.

 _Blond girl at the bar. Leather jacket._

 _Vampire?_

 _She keeps looking in your direction. I think she's trouble._

 _-Camille_

Klaus slowly looked up, he hesitated to turn his head and instead used the reflections from the aged paintings to pinpoint the blonde at the bar. He squinted catching sight of a head of blond hair that was at the bar. Her face was obscured by her hair as it fell around her shoulders in waves.

 _Waves?_

Klaus edged out of the booth keeping his eyes on the woman, her hair was definitely familiar and the way it waved down her back was attributed to only one woman he knew. He heard another buzz from his phone and quickly glanced at it.

 _What should I do?_

 _-Camille_

He rolled his eyes, though he did respect Camille, she could dramatically overestimate herself. She couldn't do anything, especially against a vampire. Especially if it was who he believed it to be.

Swallowing, he rose slowly, "Nik?" Rebekah asked after him as she saw the look on his face. He didn't answer her as he slowly turned his head from the reflections towards the bar where he caught sight of a blond head of hair.

Caroline could feel the intense burning across her body, just by the feeling she knew he had spotted her. She looked at Camille as she came back out, her pulse raced whilst she avoided Caroline's eyes purposely. The blonde vampire released a deep breath before raising the shot to her lips and sipping it slowly as her body sizzled.

Klaus walked towards the woman, his eyes widened as she raised the shot glass allowing him to catch sight of the diamond bracelet that lay against her wrist whilst it glistened in the dim light of the bar. He watched as she placed the glass back to the bar top and ran her finger along the fragile glass.

Caroline's lips curved up just as Klaus' did, he moved closer, stragglers in his way immediately moved as he walked straight towards the blond. Caroline saw a shadow out of the corner of her eye move closer, she caught Camille glance towards her and over her shoulder at Klaus who came closer.

"May I buy you a drink, love?" Caroline slowly lifted her head, her lips curved up into a smile mirroring Klaus' grin as he set his eyes on her memorising every detail of her face, the way her cheeks blushed lightly, the wisps of hair that framed her face, the strands that now fell down towards her waist instead of her shoulders as they had done when he had last seen her. Her eyes shone with the same brightness that had consumed him since the beginning.

"Champagne." Caroline answered softly keeping her eyes on Klaus as the dimples in his cheeks came into view. They shared a secret smile, _their_ thing.

"Champagne it is." He murmured, Camille nodded and pulled a bottle out from beneath the counter when Klaus stopped her, "The pinot noir, if you would Camille." She nodded confusedly before going into the back leaving the couple alone. "It's been a while." He spoke moving closer and sitting on the empty seat beside her.

"That it has." Caroline answered keeping the mysterious air around her.

"What brings you here, sweetheart?"

"A few personal errands." Klaus quirked his brow as Camille brought the champagne and placed two glass in front of the pair.

"In New Orleans?" He asked wondering if she was here for him or for something else. He uncorked the champagne and filled their glasses to the brim before they picked their own up and took a sip sharing the sentimentally of the gesture.

"Do you two know each other?" Camille asked watching them intently, she had never seen Klaus at anyone the way he looked at the woman seated beside him.

Klaus nodded as he gazed at Caroline, "Camille this is Caroline Forbes, a friend of mine. Caroline this is Camille O'Connell." Camille pressed her lips together as she fiddled with the tea towel in her fingers.

"Nice to meet you." Caroline said with a friendly smile as Camille returned with a nod and smile as well.

The conversation was interrupted as the door opened and a few men and women came wandering in buzzing towards the bar with eagle eyes. "How are you liking my kingdom so far, love?" He leaned closer whispering into her ear, his accent curled softly around the murmurings, Caroline suppressed the shiver that threatened to run down her spine and looked at him nonchalantly with a shrug of her shoulders.

"It's alright, I suppose." She glanced around the bar, "A little too _bland_ for me." She continued with a smirk causing Klaus to raise his brow. Last time he had seen her the blond bombshell in front of him still lived in the one-pony town of Mystic Falls. "Though it certainly doesn't boast the culture of _Éparney"_ Klaus couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips.

"France, sweetheart?" He watched her carefully as they locked eyes once more, "And here you had me thinking you had your entire life laid out in Mystic Falls?"

"A girl can change her mind, right?"

"Right." Klaus nodded in agreement, they continued to watch each other carefully taking in the changes of one another. " _Alors, comment était il?"_ He asked in fluent French, Caroline's smile widened hearing the language, it had been nearly 3 months since she'd returned from her little adventure but nothing would make her forget the beauty of the place or the language.

" _C'etait fantastique, la culture, la musique,"_ she leaned closer, _"veritable beauté…"_ Klaus' lips curved up hearing the perfect French escape her lips whilst leaning closer as if they were in the midst of sharing a lover's secret.

Caroline pulled away putting distance between herself and the Original hybrid before draining her third and final shot. "I missed you." Caroline murmured under her breath yet it was loud enough for Klaus to hear who raised his head and looked at her intently searching for any sign of a lie, when he found none he let the back of his hand brush against hers.

"I missed you, too." He whispered back allowing his touch to linger on her. Both forgot about the human who was watching them, she could clearly see the way Klaus looked at Caroline. Was this an illusion by the hybrid or was it genuine feelings?

Seeing the way he gazed at her intently, no man could replicate that look without emotion behind his eyes. He looked at Caroline as if she brought the stars along with her, as if sunshine glowed around her, as if his whole world lit up just by her mere presence. He looked at her with so much love. A look he had never shared with another, not even Camille herself.

Caroline let out a deep sigh as she stood, "Going so soon?" the blond vampire gave him a smile before moving round the seat and coming to stand before Klaus who rotated himself round so he his body faced hers. "Surely I can persuade you to stay for a while?" He asked, the vulnerability in his voice cracked through. Caroline looked over at his family and friends who shot looks in their direction, she could clearly see the question in their eyes except for Rebekah who rolled hers and carried on talking.

"I would-"

"Rather die of thirst?" He spoke causing Caroline to let out a faint laugh as she remembered that particular conversation before she glared at him.

"I _was_ going to say…I would love to." Klaus grinned and pulled a bottle out from over the counter before he felt Caroline's hand rest on his arm. "But I've got something to do."

"Just one drink?" Caroline watched the puppy look overcome his features, his raspberry lips pouted out as if he was a child.

Caroline tilted her head observing Klaus, imprinting his features into her brain. She had no idea when she was going to see him next and what life had taught her so far was that no one, _not even the Original Hybrid,_ was indestructible.

"Remember our time before you left?" Klaus nodded wondering why she was bringing it up, surely she must have been embarrassed after the entire evening of their time together. He could certainly tell from the way a blush rose up on her cheeks back in the woods when he began teasing her.

"It's imprinted in my mind, love." Caroline rolled her eyes as she felt Klaus' fingers dance along her hand which rested on the bar top.

"What about the deal that you asked me to offer you. Letting Katherine die in peace?" Klaus squinted wondering where she was going with before she continued, "She came back, Klaus." Klaus narrowed his eyes as Caroline chuckled nervously, "And she kind of became my best friend."

"What-"Caroline kept talking interrupting him as he tried to speak, she squeezed his arm urging him to listen to her words.

"Things happened in Mystic Falls which…" she searched for the right word, "…nearly _broke_ me. Katherine protected me just like I did for her." Klaus looked confusedly at the blond before he stiffened feeling Caroline slowly wind her arms around his neck and lean in to press her body against her. He couldn't help but wind his arm around her waist. "She died, Klaus. The girl that grew to be there for me when no one else was, died in my arms." She whispered against the shell of his ear. "I owe her _this._ I owe her closure." She murmured, as she pulled away slowly.

"What do mean?" He whispered suddenly feeling incredibly vulnerable, she rubbed her fingers against his stubble.

"Let me do this, _please._ " He nodded unconsciously wondering what she needed from him before she pulled away completely and straightened her jacket. "Don't worry I won't cause much damage, just enough for him to question why I'm doing this." She murmured under her breath as her eye locked onto the brunette man sitting in the booth.

Klaus followed her line of sight and found her gaze stuck on Elijah. His mind worked at the speed of a train as he tried to connect the dots. _Katherine._ He turned back to face Caroline but instead found the blond walking towards his brother.

"Elijah." Caroline spoke in a resolute voice gaining his attention, his eyes lifted as he caught sight of Caroline who stood tall as she watched the brunette Mikaelson lift his brow wondering who the blond woman was.

"Caroline, Mystic falls too glum for you?" Rebekah sneered.

"Mystic Falls is _gone_ , so yeah, I suppose you could say that." She threw the words in Rebekah's direction whilst the Original blond narrowed her eyes in confusion. She turned back to Elijah and held her hand out. "I've heard a lot about you, Elijah."

The suited Original stood and gracefully shook the blonde's hand trying to place her, she seemed familiar though he was sure he'd never seen her before. However, at the mention of Mystic Falls he recalled the daughter of the local Sheriff who he had never interacted with.

"It's a shame I can't say the same Miss…"

"Caroline. Just Caroline." The blond gripped his hand tightly as she assessed him.

"I hope its all good things you've heard." He smiled lightly, the way she gripped his hand didn't sit well with him.

Caroline took a moment to think but she shook her head. "Hmm, not really." Her eyes darkened as she tightened her grip, even though she was a baby vampire compared to him he could feel the tightness on his fingers.

Elijah glanced over her shoulder and saw Niklaus amble over to come and stand just behind her, he wondered who the girl was and why of all reasons she was here.

"What do you Mystic Falls is _gone?"_ Rebekah asked. Without her gaze wavering she spoke.

"Just that. Mystic Falls is buried in rubble and Earth, it doesn't exist anymore." Caroline finally loosened her grip on Elijah's hand. "Though come here for that."

"Well, what brings you here, Caroline?"

"Katherine Pierce." She said clearly making sure he heard every syllable of the name, his face remained blank. "Or _Katerina Petrova,_ as you may recall."

"Didn't she die a life time ago?" Rebekah murmured under her breath whilst the dark skinned man leaned in and asked who the woman was, rolling her eyes the baby Mikaelson set about explaining who she was.

"Yeah, but then she came back and she told me _all_ about you, Elijah." The man tilted his head curiously wondering where the blond was going with this. "You see, I may be a baby vamp compared to the lot of you but that woman taught me a lifetime of lessons. One being _never, ever_ trust the _noble_ Elijah Mikaelson."

Elijah swallowed hard, _is that really what Katerina thought of him?_ "I've seen what kind of man you are, Elijah, I've witnessed your so-called _nobility,_ and what I can't seem to figure out is how every being in this _city_ looks at you as if the sun shines from your behind. The man you seems feeble in comparison to his younger brother, the man who negotiates and listens." Caroline chuckled biting her lip before she set about again. "I've _heard_ about you. I've _seen_ what you are. Just like Katherine did."

The bar had slowly fallen quiet as Caroline found the words flowing out of her mouth effortlessly, there was something about the man in front of her that she couldn't stand.

"I'm not here to kill you," she scoffed before waving her hand, " _hello,_ baby vamp over here. No," the amusement fell from her face, "I'm here to do what Katherine should have done a _long_ time ago." She paused as Elijah remained stoic.

Caroline could feel the bile rise up in her throat remembering the moment when she had grown to hate the Mikaelson standing before her…

 _Caroline sighed as she opened the front door, she pulled the bags of groceries along kicking the door closed. Living with Katherine had taken a toll on their bank accounts, she was human and all humans needed food meaning that most of the wages she earned singing in the local bar were put towards the shopping._

" _Kat, are you home?" Caroline yelled placing the bags on the counter of the kitchen before tilting her head as she saw a pair of toned legs sticking out from behind the kitchen island, cautiously rounding the corner she saw the dishelved looking brunette. "Katherine?"_

 _Her hair fell limp around her face, the tight curls she had worn this morning nowhere to be seen. Her skin was pale, a fact the brunette had begun to come to terms to as her human life passed before her eyes. She wasn't the olive skinned 22 year old she had stopped aging at. No. Now she was a 23 year, 4 months and 9 days old woman whose body had suddenly been kick-started back to life left to catch up with the 500 years she had already existed for._

" _He's gone." She whispered as she stared blankly at the floorboards in the next room, her eyes were filled with emptiness and defeat as she rested her head against the surface of the island. "He left without saying goodbye." She could see the brunette's orbs dry of tears, the stains that blotched her skin already hinted at an hour long breakdown._

" _What are you talking 'bout, Kat?" Katherine scoffed._

" _Don't play dumb Forbes, I know you know." She spoke in a bland tone. Caroline took in a shaky breath, of course she knew what she was referring to. The man who Katherine had called for help, the one who had promised her that he'd get her back to who she had been before. A vampire._

" _What happened?" Katherine shrugged._

" _We met, he promised, we fucked and then he…simply left." Caroline caught Katherine's eyes holding the look._

" _He left?!" Caroline shrieked, Katherine smiled lightly at the blonde's reaction._

" _Yep."_

" _Wait, wait, wait. You slept together and then he left?!"_

" _That's what I said wasn't it." Katherine closed her eyes. "I shouldn't be surprised, after the amount of times I've disappeared it was to be expected."_

" _No. He can't do that. He said he'd help you, believe me I heard your conversation." Katherine gave Caroline an unimpressed look which the latter ignored. "He promised he'd help you, he gave you his word!" Stressing the last part of her sentence. Elijah Mikaelson was the only one she thought could be trusted, she had heard of his dealings with Elena and thought he was one of the good ones._

 _Her thoughts were interrupted as Katherine chuckled maliciously, "There's a reason you don't hear of the great Elijah ever breaking his word." Caroline listened closely, Katherine looked at Caroline darkly, "It's because every time he breaks his word, the person ends up_ dead." _She shrugged. "No one to pass along the bad reputation means no bad reputation to be passed. It's as simple as that in their world."_

 _It suddenly dawned on Caroline that this life full of magic and supernatural creatures had a darker side, everything wasn't what it appeared to be._

" _What do we do now?" Caroline murmured placing her hand in Katherine's._

" _Nothing. We,_ I, _can't do anything…" Katherine resigned herself to her fate as she laid her head on Caroline's shoulder. The blonde ran her fingers through Katherine's hair, a breath escaped her as she spotted a few grey hairs amongst the mass of chestnut brown strands. She tucked them underneath other strands and proceeded to push the thought away focusing on the girl that was finally coming to terms with what life had thrust in her direction._

" _I'll find a way to fix this…" Caroline murmured into her hair hoping that the words would bring some hope to the human._

 _2 months later the brunette clutched at her chest as she felt the piercing ache run through her heart, her breaths came in gasps as she tried to find a way to breathe but failed. Caroline had rushed through the house hearing her friend's erratic heart and held her tightly in her arms trying to reassure the girl but failed in finding a way to save her as she had promised._

"You're a _coward."_ Caroline hissed at him. "She deserved so much better than you're empty promises and I wish, _oh I wish…_ I wish she had never met _you._ I wish you never came back to fill her head with hope only to walk away _without_ saying goodbye." The anger rose in her causing her voice to tighten. "You have _no idea_ what she went through." She ground out from between her teeth before taking a calming breath. "Now I have no clue as to why you would do that her. Maybe it was some sick twisted form of revenge but let me tell you something, Elijah Mikaelson, you _disgust me_. _You_ are the reason she waited so long, you promised you'd find a way to help her, you made her believe in you. She waited and waited instead of finding an alternative. You _wasted_ the precious time she had left." Caroline chuckled without humour, "You're the reason she's dead."

Elijah remained emotionless at Caroline's attack, never in his entire life had someone been so upfront of any mistakes he made or wrongs he did.

"So," Caroline let out a deep breath as she looked at Elijah, "Katherine may not be here right now, but that won't stop me from doing this…."

 _Crack!_

Elijah's head snapped to the side, he could feel the throb in his jaw. Judging by the crack he had clearly broken a bone. Caroline tightened her fist feeling the ache run through her entire arm but ignored it vehemently knowing that it was definitely worth it.

" _That_ was for lying to her." Elijah blinked slowly trying to come to terms with what had just happened when he felt a sharp pierce through his lungs, he was winded as Caroline thrust a wooden stake through his chest narrowly missing his heart. " _That_ was for leaving her by herself. And this," Caroline took in a swift breath as Elijah clutched at the stake she left embedded in his chest before raising her knee and shooting it up aiming between his legs, his knees gave out immediately at the hit and he fell to his knees as Caroline kneeled catching him by his arms and leaning into his ear, " _this_ was for _ever_ letting her down." She hissed into his ear enunciating her words before she stood and looked over him. "You're _pathetic._ " She said with an air of finality before turning round coming face to face with a shocked looking Klaus, finding nothing else to say she walked past him heading out of the bar whilst Klaus glanced at Elijah who groaned as he struggled to his feet. Part of Klaus pitied his brother whist the other part was triumphant at Caroline's direct and non-bullshit approach.

Hesitating for a few seconds to look back at his brother who sat back into the booth trying to ease the stake out of his chest before Klaus flashed out of the bar trying to locate Caroline but found himself out of luck as the streets buzzed with people.

"Dammit."

"Please tell me you're going to wring her damn neck." Rebekah hissed out from behind him causing Klaus to roll his eyes, "Oh don't tell me you're infatuated with her again."

 _Oh, it's much more than an infatuation…_

Klaus pushed his way back into the bar moving towards Camille who was still in mid shock as she passed some ice to Elijah even though he was a vampire and clearly wouldn't need it.

"Did she say where she was going?" He asked Camille suddenly who became flustered at his question, sighing he found himself growing extremely tired of her humanly ways, "Where did she say she was going, Camille?"

"I don't know, she didn't say." He gritted his teeth.

"The girl had guts, you've got to admit." Marcel said in his deep, rich voice trying third not to laugh. Klaus clenched his jaw together and pulled his phone out locating Caroline's name when he instinctively looked back at the seat the blond had occupied at the bar and spotted a piece of paper tucked under Caroline's shot glass which was still resting on the bar top.

Moving closer he pulled it out from beneath the glass and let out a sigh of relief.

 _I'm not going to apologise, he deserved it and much more. He still has some explaining to do, I would have stayed longer but didn't want to be responsible for murdering a third of the Earth's vampire population._

 _Katherine was my sister, you of all people know what it feels like to lose a sibling and the hatred that wells up when you realise you can't protect them as you should have._

 _Maybe one day I'll come back and immerse myself in your city._

 _Xx Caroline_

 _P.S I haven't found my way to Paris or Rome or Tokyo yet so don't worry…_

 _555-7684-3476_

Klaus' lips curved up slightly as he noted the change in her number which she had willingly given to him, he glanced at Elijah who was trying to fix his jaw whilst murmurs of who the blond woman was flew around the bar.

 _If only they knew what she meant to him._


	3. Chapter 3

**Little oneshot that's been playing on my mind:**

 **Klaus is a baby vampire whilst Caroline is the Original Hybrid. Klaus has been bitten by a werewolf but will Caroline save him especially after he betrayed her?**

 **Hope you enjoy :D**

Caroline stepped out of the car, she blinked twice as she looked at the Mikaelson building staring at it in mild disgust. It had been a long while since she'd been back to this one pony town. She'd hoped she'd never have to be dragged back but there was something inevitable about the situation…

 _Caroline smirked as she leaned her head back with closed eyes letting herself become immersed in the rich tone of the jazz singer. "You gonna answer that anytime soon?" She heard Marcel ask, opening her eyes she saw her phone light up._

' _Doppleganger'_

" _Nope." She murmured before declining the call and looking back towards the singer who owned the crowd._

 _A few minutes later, Damon entered the bar heading immediately towards the blond. "Sister." Caroline rolled her eyes at him before narrowing them as he spoke. "You want to explain why I'm getting calls from Mystic Falls, asking for your help?"_

" _I have no clue, though you could just…I don't know…ignore it." He pressed his lips together before dismissing Marcel and taking his place._

" _It seems your little toy-boy is in trouble." Caroline blinked suppressing the urge to ask what happened._

" _Not my problem." She simply replied nonchalantly whilst Damon smirked observing her._

" _Good." He said resolutely, "We don't need any of their problems weighing us down." He spread his arm across the back of the seat lounging back as he absorbed the dark vibes of the dimly lit bar._

 _Caroline sipped her drink slowly as she looked off into the distance. There was no way she was going back to that small town which brought misery upon her._

The blond licked her dry lips as she leaned against the car observing the building in front of her. Taking in a deep breath she walked up the gravelly path foregoing the door and instead jumping up towards the window which was partially open, she stilled on the balcony underneath it and listened in to the room where she heard stuttered breaths and voices.

"I'm trying to find a way to slow it down, Nik." Rebekah whispered as she gripped his hand tightly. "She'll be here, I know it." She reassured him but he gave her a pitying smile.

"No she won't." He whispered struggling to voice his words as the venom coursed through his veins.

Caroline leaned her head back resting it against the wall as she heard his rough accented voice. It had been months since she'd heard or seen him. She waited as Rebekah pressed a damp towel along his forehead wiping away the sweat.

"She will." The blond replied adamantly whilst his eyes slid closed before reopening slowly. "Look, me, Kol and Elijah are _not_ letting you go this easily. She'll be here, even if I have to drag her by her hair." Rebekah said with emotion welling up.

Caroline raised her brow impressed at the girl's threat. Though she'd probably deny it if she knew Caroline was standing right outside the window.

"Just stay with me." He whimpered causing Caroline's heart to crack. The blond Original scolded herself, he was not allowed to affect her this way. She had vowed it to herself making sure her heart had hardened months ago whilst promising herself to forget all about _him._ But it was easier said than done.

" _Oh come on, get to know me." Caroline urged him as he walked away from her, she was hunter and he was prey but they both knew that this was nothing but a mere distraction._

 _Klaus smirked thinking she'd fallen for the plan, he turned with an unimpressed look as she smiled slyly at him. She walked closer before sliding onto the bench and patting the empty seat beside her. "Come on, I dare you."_

" _I'm too smart to be seduced by you, love." Caroline smiled brightly._

" _Well…" she shrugged, "…that's why I like you."_

 _Klaus smiled looking down at his feet before taking in a deep breath and sitting beside her. "So what do you want to talk about?" He asked, suppressing the nerves._

 _Licking her dry lips, the blond leaned back in her seat, "l want to talk about you." Klaus chuckled nervously finding his eyes drawn back to hers as the cold air bit at both of them. "Your hopes, your dreams," Caroline tilted her head, "everything you want in life…" she whispered softly luring him into the conversation._

 _Klaus gulped, her eyes were so blue. How could such a monster look like an angel? Just stick to the plan and everything'll be fine…_

Caroline swallowed hard as she recalled their first proper conversation, he was all dimples and nerves rolled up into one and yet he had quickly began to unravel her.

" _I see you got my invitation." Caroline said softly causing Klaus to turn, his eyes widened in awe as he saw her in a pale blue dress which accentuated her beauty._

" _Yes, well it was either this," he glanced around the vast elegant ballroom, "or cold pizza at home." Caroline giggled lightly at his words which made Klaus chuckle nervously. "Quick question." Tilting her head Caroline listened, "Are you going to kill me?"_

 _Caroline lifted her brow, she was surprised at his blunt question. "We've had decent conversations, I've invited you to my family ball and you ask me_ that? _" The amusement left Caroline's eyes, "Do you really think that low of me?" She asked her voice hinting at vulnerability._

 _Klaus hesitated but answered nonetheless. "Yes."_

 _Caroline took in a breath at his blunt answer._

 _Their attention was drawn up to Stefan who gave an elegant speech before inviting everyone to take a partner for a dance._

" _Would you care to dance?" Caroline asked gently, Klaus hesitated for a few seconds as he glanced towards Elena which Caroline noticed before she took Elijah's hand and agreed to dance with him._

" _Of course." He took her hand and led her across the room to start. "I'm sorry about your father." Caroline said softly._

" _Don't." Klaus ground out, Caroline nodded seeing it was a sore subject for him._

" _You're a good dancer." She said rerouting the conversation, she felt Klaus straighten._

" _Well I've had training." He remembered the evenings he spent with Rebekah who always cajoled him into being her practising partner for the Miss Mystic pageant._

 _Caroline grinned, "I know." Klaus watched her suppressing a giggle but couldn't stop a chuckle himself._

" _How?" He asked._

" _I have my ways." Klaus' smile faltered remembering that this was the Original Hybrid he was speaking to. Of course she had her ways._

 _Caroline felt the amusement clearly diminish as Klaus avoided her eyes._

Klaus tightened his hold on Rebekah's hand as he pulled laborious breaths into his lungs. "I promise you're going to be fine." She whispered. Kol quickly came through the door and connected eyes with Rebekah as he shook his head, the blond swallowed before releasing his hand. "I'll be right back Nik."

"Well?" Rebekah asked impatiently as they moved away from Klaus' room, she saw Kol's hesitation and slapped his arm forcing him to answer her.

"Ow." He whimpered.

"Where is _she?"_ Rebekah hissed.

"We have no idea. She isn't picking up and neither are Damon or Stefan."

"Dammit. Has Bonnie tried a locator spell?"

"Of course she had, they're in New Orleans. There's no way Caroline would be able to get here before…" Kol's voice trailed off, he had no choice but to be clear with Rebekah. It was their brother dying but they couldn't give him false hope. It was simply too cruel.

"Kol, we can't lose him." Rebekah's eyes filled with tears before she narrowed her eyes at the brunette that came up the stairs with tears in her own eyes. "What do you want?" The blond hissed, Elena winced at her tone but couldn't blame her.

"I wanted to see if he was alright-"

" _Alright?!_ Of course he's not bloody alright. He's _dying_ or is that too much for your little head to accept."

"Bekah'-" Kol tried to stop a fight erupting which would waste the precious time they still had with Klaus.

"No! I'm sick and tired of everyone thinking that it's alright with her to-"

"To what, Rebekah?" Elijah interrupted as he followed Elena and stood beside her. The sight sickened the blond and she couldn't help but recall the few words she and Caroline had once shared…

" _Stop playing with him." Rebekah hissed as she stormed through the Salvatore mansion doors finding Caroline looking out towards the garden. She turned towards the woman, her face was free of emotion. "You don't get to come into our town and then pretend to care for him. He's already dating Elena, do you understand that?! He's taken so back off." Rebekah exclaimed coming to stop as she panted with anger._

 _Caroline looked at her, her mind drew resemblances between the Mikaelson sister and herself._

" _Stop lying to yourself Rebekah." Caroline simply said as she ambled towards the wooden table and poured two glasses of bourbon._

 _Rebekah narrowed her eyes, "What are you talking about?" Caroline sighed._

" _Do you really believe that he's happy with her?"_

" _Yes." The blond vampire immediately replied, Caroline nodded._

" _And what about Elena? Do you think that she'll give him the life he deserves?" Rebekah hesitated but answered after a beat._

" _Yeah." Caroline scoffed and shook her head in disbelief._

" _Wow, you really live up to your hair colour, don't you?" Caroline offered the glass of bourbon to Rebekah who stared at it in confusion. "Go on," seeing her not move Caroline sighed, "Really? Look I haven't poisoned it, trust me it's not my style."_

 _Rebekah reached out and took the glass, "As I was saying…you really need to take a closer look at Elena." Rebekah glared at the blond who raised her hands in surrender, "I'm not saying kill her, jeez, calm down. I'm saying watch her."_

" _Why?" Caroline took a sip and shrugged._

" _You'll find that everything isn't what it seems."_

" _Look, just stop with the riddles and tell me what you know." Rebekah said without patience._

" _I'm just saying, you've heard the story of Tatia," she spit the name out with hatred_

" _Yeah, your brothers fought over her-"_

" _And nearly ripped my family apart, yes." Composing herself she continued, "It's no wonder that Elena is descended from her, they both share a common trait, don't you think?"_

 _Rebekah narrowed her eyes reading in between the words. "Wait…you think Elena's cheating on Nik?" She breathed out in disbelief._

" _I don't think, I_ know. _" Caroline drained her glass and placed it back down. "And it's not just someone, you might want to look closer to home."_

 _Rebekah blinked in disbelief before she gulped her drink back. If Caroline was right then that would mean…no… The vampire clenched her jaw, Kol was chasing after Bonnie so that would mean…Elijah._

" _You've got to be kidding me?" Rebekah murmured connecting the dots. She slammed the glass down on the table before turning on her heel and storming towards the door._

" _Rebekah." The blond stilled looking over her shoulder, "Klaus deserves so much better." Rebekah scoffed._

" _And you think that's you?" Caroline gave her a sad smile._

" _No." She whispered in full honesty._

 _Rebekah looked at her slightly shocked at her words before pushing back the feeling and striding towards the door back into the car and driving towards the house where she entered to see everyone awaiting her arrival. Her eyes connected with Klaus, Elena and Elijah's._

" _She fell for it…"_

It had all been an elaborate set up to weaken Caroline's defences.

Caroline stayed leaning against the wall, she heard Rebekah yell at Elena and couldn't help but swallow. She still scolded herself for allowing her feelings to get in the way and allow herself to fall into their trap.

" _Hello, love." Klaus said as he slid into the seat beside her._

" _Klaus." She saw the defeated look as he ordered a bottle of bourbon for himself. "What are you doing here?" Of course Caroline knew what had happened, he'd f course found out about his ex's betrayal and found himself at the Grill drowning his sorrows._

" _What does it look like?" He gestured towards the bottle he was served and immediately grabbed a glass filling it to the brim with the murky liquid before downing it straight back._

" _Well it looks like you're trying to get yourself drunk and going about it the wrong way." Klaus tilted his head questioning her. She leaned closer keeping her voice low._

" _You're a vampire, remember. That bottle isn't going to do anything for you. You'll probably need 6 more of those to at least feel a little hazy."_

 _Klaus chuckled at her words before ordering 8 more bottles. "It's on me. Just don't do anything stupid. I don't wanna' have to be responsible for you when you're drunk on your ass." She said slyly before downing her own drink and standing._

" _Wait." Klaus immediately said, "How 'bout you join me?" Caroline wanted to, but there was no way she was going to be a rebound._

" _Maybe next time." She said as she turned away only to be stopped by his accented voice._

" _Elena was cheating on me with Elijah." He spat out. Caroline raised her brow, "Please, just one drink." He urged her pouring her a glass and nudging it towards her._

 _Caroline saw the puppy look overcome him and sighed as she relented and sat back on her chair. "Fine."_

 _They spent the next few hours draining the bottles, though it didn't effect Caroline at all but quite the opposite could be said for Klaus. It seemed that he was a vampire lightweight. After a few more hours talking about everything and anything Caroline finally decided Klaus had had enough._

" _Come on, Mikaelson, time to go." She murmured, his relents weakened as the liquor went straight to his head and tired him out. Seeing his eyes begin to close she smiled softly as he began blubbering nonsense, she supported his weight with his arm over her shoulders and her own around his waist. She knew she could simply lift him and flash him back to his house but for the sake of appearing human in the bar she kept up her acting._

 _Once they left Caroline immediately flashed them to the Mikaelson mansion where she gently placed Klaus into his bed tucking the blanket over him after she had removed his jacket._

" _Caroli…" He drawled out still in his drunken state, he opened his eyes reaching out for her. The blond squeezed his hand._

" _Go to sleep, Klaus."_

" _I don't want to…" He said softly, "I'm not tired…" he yawned lightly drawing a giggle from the hybrid._

" _I can see that…" He groaned lightly as he forced his eyes open, Caroline smoothed back the curls that had matted his forehead._

" _Sleep…" she murmured smiling as she immediately heard light snores from him._

"Klaus?" Caroline sighed hearing Elena's voice as she entered the room. Caroline's chest tightened at her mere presence, she had the urge to walk away from the situation but couldn't will herself to move.

"Hmm?" Klaus groaned out as his eyes found the brunette, "What are you doing here?" he coughed out feeling his head begin to pound. "Where's Elijah?"

Elena swallowed guiltily, "Elijah's talking to your sister."

"Why are you here?" He repeated.

"I came to see how you were." She whispered rubbing her hands together as she moved closer towards him.

"Well how do I look then?" Klaus sneered out, outside Caroline couldn't help but wonder why he sounded so angry. "Do I look peachy? Because that's how I feel." He choked out sarcastically.

"I'm sorry," Elena whispered making Caroline wonder what she was apologising for.

"That I found out or that you played me?" Caroline furrowed her brow listening to his words, it sounded awfully like a breakup that hadn't ended on a good note. Caroline dismissed the idea, she had been wrong about the whole Elijah/ Elena affair…

 _Caroline and Klaus had grown incredibly close after his 'breakup' with Elena. They talked for hours on end on the phone or face to face when they met. Caroline helped him realise that life as a vampire was much more than he believed it to be, she showed him memories of places she had visited and promised that she would one day show him in reality._

 _Klaus on the other hand taught her that simple, human conventions could still bring about joy and amusement. Like the time he had taken her to an art class where she truly messed up a simple fruit bowl drawing whilst he had simply replicated it to perfection. Or the time he'd taken her to see Mission Impossible 3 throughout which the pair squabbled over the actual height of the Burj Kalifah seeing as Caroline had actually been there whilst Klaus had done a very detailed report on the building. They had both rolled their eyes when Tom Cruise stated the tower as being taller than it actually was. They both agreed to disagree whilst agreeing that Cruise was a total numpty especially after making it seem that running through a sandstorm wouldn't at least scar your face._

" _Sweetheart." He groaned as Caroline accidently nudged him making the red paint land on the horse's sketched muzzle._

" _Sorry." She said sweetly biting her lip, she rested her chin over his shoulder as she looked at the canvas in front of him. "When did you learn to paint?" She asked softly._

" _My mother taught me when I was little…"_

" _So you've been doing this since you were…"_

" _7." Caroline's eyes widened._

" _You're…amazing. One day you'll find yourself being the most wanted artist in the world."_

" _I doubt it." He murmured._

" _You have an eternity, Klaus, you will one day." She whispered softly. He swallowed as she filled him with confidence. "One day you'll have people lining round corners wanting to catch a glimpse of the famous Niklaus Mikaelson." He shivered hearing her say his name. "Paint me like one of your French girls, Klaus." She said in a flawless British accent impersonating a fan._

 _Klaus blinked, his hand fell away from the canvas as he heard her words, turning his head he caught her eyes and couldn't help but be in awe of her sunshine laugh. "Ok." He whispered causing Caroline to still._

" _What?" She asked confused._

" _Let me paint you." Caroline blinked rapidly, she was centuries old of course she'd had paintings done of her but they were by mere admirers who meant nothing to her. But Klaus. He was much more than a simpleton. "Please."_

" _How?" She asked._

" _Full body." He said keeping his eyes locked on hers, "With a sheet of course but full body nonetheless."_

" _When?"_

" _Now?" Caroline nodded slowly, Klaus set his palette and brush aside as he removed the canvas and placed a new one on top. Caroline swallowed the nerves. "Are you sure, sweetheart, I don't want you to feel like-"_

" _It's fine, just if you start drooling I'm totally going to hit you." She covered her nerves with the teasing threat which Klaus grinned at but didn't respond to._

 _Caroline turned looking around the room, "So where do you wanna' do this?" He took her hand and led her towards the bed which he gestured to. "I thought you'd buy me a drink first."_

" _If I remember correctly I bought you 8 whole bottles of bourbon." Caroline rolled her eyes trying to stifle a giggle but failed. "Just here, I'll get a sheet for you, you just…"_

" _Undress?"_

" _Yeah." He gave her a hesitant smile as he entered the closet and grabbed a white sheet opening it up as Caroline took a shaky breath and undid her shirt. Thank God she'd decided to wear her pink and black ensemble. Her shirt slipped from her arms landing on the ground, her back was to Klaus who blinked rapidly before averting his eyes and setting the sheet on the bed whilst he headed back to the canvas readying some pencils_

 _Caroline undid her jeans and slipped them off letting them rest on the floor beside her shirt before she glanced at Klaus who was staring intently at the blank canvas, his eyes drew up to her and she gave him a small smile as she reached for the sheet allowing him to see her toned body wrapped up in nothing but her hot pink bra and panties which were lined with black silk around the edges._

 _She pressed the sheet to her front and laid sat on the bed unsure of how he wanted her placed. Seeing her confusion, he headed towards her taking her hands and gesturing for her to crawl onto the bed which she did whilst he stood in front of her._

" _Turn around." He spoked sending shivers down Caroline's back, she followed his instructions turning to face him on her knees. "Closer." He took her hand moving her closer towards him, she was near the edge of the bed when she stopped shuffling forth. Her nose came to just beneath his, as if he was hovering over her. He softly ran his fingers up her bare arm and gently eased her down to sit on her knees. "Spread you knees." Caroline swallowed as she followed his instructions. His eyes went to the pink and black bra straps, she followed his gaze as he reached up lightly tracing the fabric. "Take it off." Seeing her reach behind her whilst holding onto the sheet as it covered her chest, he slowly eased the straps from her shoulders. He heard the snap of the hook and let the fabric fall from his light touch as Caroline eased it off her arms and laid it beside her whilst keeping the sheet covering her breasts._

 _Licking his dry lips, Klaus slowly ran his fingers through her soft hair as she watched him carefully, he gently fluffed it up causing the soft waves to lose their structure and instead frame her face with careless ease. His finger ran down her cheek, Caroline heard him swallow hard._

" _There." He whispered, his eyes looked her over once from bottom to top before he tilted his head and took the hand that held the sheet and gently loosened its grip. Caroline kept her eyes on him as she wondered what he was doing, she soon found out as he placed the hand that held the sheet from the top of her cleavage to instead rest in the middle holding the sheet up between her breasts. "Sit back." She sat on the heels of her feet, Klaus took her free hand and placed it palm down on the bed between the gap of her knees. The position caused her back to arch down slightly making her hair fall forward a little letting small curls to frame her face._

" _Perfect." He murmured taking one last look before moving back to his canvas and sitting down. Taking a deep breath he picked up a pencil and looked at Caroline as if she was his prey, how ironic it seemed seeing as she was the one who could kill him with a simple snap of her teeth, he pressed the pencil lightly to the blank canvas and all that filled the room was the light scrapes of pencil against paper…_

 _It was magically, days together turned into weeks which turned into a month. Everything was going perfect…too perfect yet Caroline allowed her happiness overshadow her cautious upbringing. She missed the clues and the hints that she should have picked up. She should have figured it out weeks before but had failed and allowed herself to become immersed in Klaus' presence._

 _She fell for him. Hard._

 _Something she had vowed to never allow, something she had believed to be a mere weakness…_

"She'll be here, you know." Elena said adamantly as she moved closer to sit beside him.

"Of course she won't, not after everything that happened." He whimpered out feeling the burn sizzle up to the surface of his skin.

"It needed to be done, you know that-"

"No." He spluttered out, "What I know is that _she_ was honest, something which you clearly couldn't be."

Caroline listened closely, Elena looked away.

"I'm sorry-"

"You let me believe _you,_ you let me hurt _her._ " Elena looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"She tried to kill all of us. Surely that's good enough reason to want her dead!" Elena exclaimed. "We had to get rid of her, and we did."

"And look what's happening now." He whispered closing his eyes tightly and baring his teeth through the pain. "Get out." He murmured.

"I'm sorry, Nik-"

"Don't call me that!" He hissed out groaning as a sharp pain shot through his body. Caroline could tell he was hours into the wolf venom spreading and only had at most an hour left. "Caroline was right all along, wasn't she?" He murmured, "The time she saw you, it wasn't an act you put up for her…it was real."

Elena felt the guilt she had been harbouring for months continued to eat at her, "Answer me!" He exclaimed before he launched into a coughing fit.

"Yes." She answered as tears fell from her eyes, she reached out to hold his hand but he pulled them away immediately.

"Get out." Klaus groaned, he regretted every single moment that he went along with the plan. He regretted ever believing Elena. He regretted trusting her and Elijah when there were clues all around him of what was going on.

The venom continued to take effect, he clutched the pendant that graced his neck tightly between his fingers…

 _Klaus swallowed tightly as he grazed his fingers along the necklace that Caroline had given to him for his birthday, they'd met up this morning and she'd been the first one out of all his friends to wish him a great birthday. But announced that she'd been out of town for a few hours on business so that he should have his time with his friends without her interruption which would have probably caused an uproar._

 _He'd expected a small celebration of course but with the plan coming to its finally few days everyone was busy making sure all the components were put together and ready to be executed when the time came._

 _You see, it had all been one big distraction with Klaus playing centre role. They needed Caroline Salvatore, the Original Hybrid, out of the way especially as she had been wanting to use Elena's blood to make hybrids. They had located a white oak tree in the south of France which had been harvested by a local merchant so Bonnie and Kol had travelled down to collect a branch from it._

 _Since it was a baby white oak tree, they had to use magically enhancements to increase its growth which had taken a few weeks. Elijah had come up with a simple plan involving Klaus becoming close to Caroline making her guard fall and once the white oak was ready to be used they would ambush her and use it taking Caroline Salvatore down._

 _Klaus had agreed, his so-called love for Elena blinding him as he carelessly agreed to the plan._

 _But he found himself having doubts especially as time went by and he got to know the feisty blond._

 _So on his birthday, when she had gifted him the necklace that was carved with a few words in an ancient language that Caroline had refused to translate until later that night when they would meet once again, he began questioning himself._

 _He had felt an instant connection to the necklace and asked Caroline why that was. She had stunned him with her answer._

" _It's not just a necklace, Klaus. Remember how you told me Mikael isn't your real father and you found out your mother had an affair with a werewolf?"_

" _How could I forget?" He murmured under his breath as he looked at the chain in his hand._

" _Well…I found your father's pack," Klaus' narrowed eyes shot up, "your biological father," she gestured towards the chain in his hand, "that necklace belonged to him." Licking her lips she continued, "You were born to be a wolf, Klaus, but were turned before you could be one. It's why you feel so close to wolves," he tilted his head, "yeah, I noticed."_

 _Caroline bit her lip, "Why give me this?" Klaus asked._

" _I've spent centuries feeling incomplete until I broke the curse." She explained softly. "That need, the want to be part of a pack but knowing that they would never accept you for what you are, it's something you've been feeling, right?" He nodded unconsciously, "You don't have a way to get rid of that feeling, so," she shrugged, "I located your pack and asked a witch to take their essence putting it in that necklace. That way you can carry that missing part of yourself everywhere you go and never have to feel like you don't belong."_

 _Klaus was speechless, Caroline took the silence in the wrong way, "If you don't like it, I can take it back and undo it all-" Her words halted as she felt his arms wrap around her pulling her towards his warm body._

" _Thank you." He whispered against the shell of her ear as he tightened his arms around her, slowly but surely, she wrapped her arms around his neck breathing in his musky scent. "No one, not even my own family, has ever given me something like this, Caroline." He pulled back slightly. "Thank you." He pressed his lips against her cheek lightly causing a pink blush to rise up on her pale skin._

" _But…did you meet_ him? _" Caroline knew who he meant and the way she looked at him told him all he needed to know._

" _He died, Klaus. A long time ago." He looked down, she softly lifted his face, "I'm so sorry." He nodded before feeling her body press against him again bringing comfort to him. "Maybe you could go see his pack. I don't know if they'd accept you but-"_

" _This," he held the necklace up, "this is more than I could have ever asked of you, sweetheart." He felt his chest tighten knowing of what was about to come in a few days. "I will_ always _treasure this."_

 _Caroline smiled feeling proud that she was able to bring him such closure, "Hey, there's a whole world waiting out there for you to treasure. I'll take you to Rome, the Trevi fountain is to die for and you can continue to treasure every moment."_

 _Klaus hugged her tightly again so that she wouldn't be able to see his face, his smile had faltered at the mention of her taking him to Rome. What if she was no longer here? What if in a few days she was nothing but a memory. A woman he had once met and played a part in killing._

" _By the way, I'm going to be gone for a few hours, business and all that. Nothing you have to worry your pretty little head about." She said pulling away from him whilst Klaus tried to compose himself. "I'll be back later, ok?"_

" _Ok."_

" _I'm sure your sister has some big surprise party planned." She backed up a few steps when Klaus stopped her._

" _Could you…" he looked at the pendant and Caroline tilted her head with a nod before pinching the necklace and bringing it up round his neck where she tied end of the thin rope like thread together, she brushed her finger over the pendant._

" _There." She bit her lip, "Perfect."_

" _Thank you, love…"_

"Hey Nik." Rebekah entered the room again, she found him holding tightly onto the necklace adorning his throat. Of course she'd heard of its history from her brother. Once everything had been said and done Klaus had broken down and confessed all to his sister confiding only to her.

She moved closer to the bed and kneeled beside her dying brother, "Where are you, Caroline?" She whispered into the air hoping the blond had listened to the million messages the blond had left and was on her way to save Klaus.

But looking at his pale, sweaty face, Rebekah began losing hope that even if she was coming, she wouldn't arrive in time.

Caroline looked at her phone, there were messages upon messages which had been left from every member of the Mystic Falls gang. She sifted through the text messages and deleted each and every single one.

They had no right to call her back and plead for help. Had they accomplished what they wanted, Klaus would have been left with no hope of surviving and it would have been their own faults for being stupid enough to kill the only being on the entire planet that would be able to save their friend.

As Klaus lay dying, both their minds took them back to the last day they had seen each other…

 _Caroline rubbed her temples as she drowned a glass of bourbon whilst rearranging her shirts and shoes in colour order. She hummed to herself trying to calm herself down and keep the recurring thought pushed out of her mind. She couldn't contemplate it, she wasn't allowed to by her own rules._

 _It wasn't possible yet she knew it to be true._

" _Caroline, sweetheart?" He'd called her name a few times before he came up the stairs and found the blond tucked away in her walk-in closet with shirts sitting next to jeans and shoes placed next to her makeup shelf where he knew they most certainly didn't belong. "Love, are you alright?" He asked cautiously taking in the scene._

" _Yep, perfectly fine." She replied without turning around._

 _He had known the blond for at least 5 months and in all the time they were together he had learned that she was a total control freak which she hid well under her tough exterior but when worst came to worst she would be rearranging her clothes or accessories._

" _Sweetheart, you're stress sorting, you want to tell me what this is all about?" Caroline stood slowly and turned towards him. "Well?"_

" _Nothing, nothing's wrong." She said walking past him towards her dressing table where she got various make up products out from the drawer before moving across the room towards another chest of drawers._

" _Caroline." He drawled out as he placed the products back into the draws and straightened the items on top of the dresser knowing it had to be done perfectly especially when she was in this state._

 _Caroline turned to look at him and watched as he carefully moved each object to come in line with the other. "I need to tell you something." She spoke, she saw him nod. "I think…" she could feel the tightness in her chest at what she was about to confess, "...no…I know…"_

 _Klaus tensed slightly at her words, had she found out about the plan?_

" _Klaus, I-I…" Closing her eyes she ripped the band aid off, "I love you."_

 _Klaus stilled as did Caroline. Both inhaled sharply at her words. For the first time in years she was scared. Fully terrified of the repercussions of her words but that didn't stop the next few being said._

" _I'm in love with you."_

 _Caroline waited for him to react, but he remained frozen on the spot with his back to her. Silence had settled on them as Caroline's eyes filled with water and tremors ran down her body._

 _The silence was broken as Klaus' phone rang and he slowly picked it up answering: "Rebekah?"_

 _Caroline stared at him with wide eyes, she'd just confessed her love and he was on the phone talking to his sister, she missed whatever Rebekah had said._

" _I'll be right there." Klaus replied hoarsely, his throat feeling dry whilst his mind spun out of control._

 _The vampire glanced at Caroline whilst she continued to await his words, "I need to go." He whispered, the next thing she knew, Klaus had flashed out of the mansion to wherever he was going._

 _Caroline gasped as the sharp stab of rejection pierced her heart…_

"You can't die on me know, Nik. Don't you dare…"Rebekah whispered," She'll be here, I know she will…" The blond continued to hope as Klaus and Caroline remained stuck in their memories…

"' _It's done." Bonnie said with an air of finality as she held the white oak stake up for everyone to see. "We'll do it tonight." The dark skinned witch said wrapping the stake in a cloth and holding it tightly._

" _The sooner the better." Elena agreed. "But how do we get her here?"_

" _Nik calls her, tells her he has a surprise. Bon-bon zaps her with witchy juju, we tackle her and Elena has the honour of putting the stake through her chest." Kol said immediately without hesitation. Everyone turned towards him in disbelief causing him to shrug, "I had 3 hours to kill, might as well figure out how the finale is going to turn out."_

 _Klaus felt his chest and throat tighten, he'd flashed out of the mansion to come straight here to find out that everything was finally ready and that the plan was going to come to its end._

 _But what he hadn't counted on was Caroline confessing her feelings._

 _That was definitely something unexpected._

 _But was it unreciprocated? That was a whole other question. One which caused Klaus to falter and doubt the plan._

" _Well, Nik, come on. Make the call…" he heard Elena urge._

 _Elena. That was another thing he had to come to terms with. The more time he spent with Caroline the more he doubted that Elena was the one for him. Sure they'd been friends for a while before becoming closer but when he was with Caroline it was as if he was drawn towards her._

 _When he spent time with her it was like discovering a whole new world, a new lease to life. With Elena it was one town. One simple life._

 _A life he no longer seemed to want._

" _Niklaus." Klaus looked at his older brother who raised his brow gesturing to the phone Klaus held in his hand. "This is what we've been working towards for an entire month, let's get this over and done with."_

 _Klaus blinked rapidly feeling his head spin. "Nik, come on. Once she's gone, we can finally move on." Little did he know that she wasn't talking about them._

" _Are you having doubts?" Bonnie asked in a judgemental tone, Klaus came out of his stupor and shook his head. He called Caroline and hoped she wouldn't pick up._

" _Klaus?" His voice stilled in his throat, no sound came out for a few seconds before Kol threw a cushion at him urging him to complete the penultimate step._

" _Caroline." He choked on his next words as he felt everyone looking at him. "I need to see you. Can you come to the boarding house please?"_

" _When?" He slammed his eyes shut, why of all times did she have to listen to him now?_

" _20 minutes." He replied seeing Kol sign it with his hands._

" _I'll see you then." Klaus hung up feeling dread fill him._

" _At a boy, brother." Kol clapped his shoulder before ordering everyone into their places leaving Klaus to wonder what the hell he was doing._

" _Hey," he looked to Elena who curled her fingers round his, they felt so cold compared to Caroline's touch. "It's nearly over." She gave him a reassuring smile which he accepted with a tense nod._

"I love you, Nik." Rebekah whimpered as she gripped his hand. "You promised always and forever, you can't leave me now."

" _Hi." Caroline said softly as Klaus opened the door, he wanted to slam it shut in her face, to tell her to run from here and eventually tell him the truth but his family and friends were relying on him. They said it was the right thing to do? Wasn't it?_

" _Caroline." He allowed her to come in and shut the door._

" _If this is about what I said this morning-"He cut her off immediately not wanting the others to find out._

" _No, it's not that." He led her further into the main room where he stared into the fireplace drawing courage from the burning embers but it vanished as he felt the weight of the pendant around his neck. "I-I…"_

 _Caroline looked at him unexpectedly, "Klaus? What's wrong?" She asked gently. He turned slowly, the burning fire reflected in his tears, the blond Original walked towards him. "Klaus." She moved closer worried. "Please tell me what's wrong."_

 _He couldn't find the words to even begin to explain how sorry he was._

" _You can trust me, whatever's wrong, you can tell me." She urged cautiously as she wrapped her fingers lightly around his wrist. He looked down at the touch and pulled his fingers away from his wrist to instead entwine with his own fingers._

 _His throat started closing up as he watched the care and love emanate from her eyes._

 _She was supposed to be a monster, she was supposed to kill everything and everyone in her way and yet…_

… _yet she stood before him trying to help and understand him whilst he was the one betraying her…_

" _Klaus," a tear escaped his eye, she reached up wiping it away immediately, "Talk to me, is someone trying to hurt you?"_

' _Yes, they're trying to take you away' Klaus blinked as the words entered his head._

" _You're scaring me, Nik." He inhaled sharply hearing her say his name, "Tell me what's wrong."_

 _Klaus closed his eyes tightly, he reopened it to find Caroline watching him carefully. She lifted her hand placing it against his cheek where she scratched lightly at his stubble._

" _I'll do anything, just tell me what's wrong."_

 _A beat of silence passed and it was too late._

" _Ah." Caroline moaned out as she felt needles piecing her head, her grip on Klaus' hand fell away as the piercing increased and she stumbled back clutching her head. "Ahh," she exclaimed as her vision become blurry, she looked up at Klaus to see him standing where he was with tears running down his cheeks._

" _I'm sorry." He choked out as he watched her scream again and fall to her knees, tear drops fell from her eyes as they pain became too much. "I'm so, so sorry…"_

 _Bonnie entered the room chanting in Latin as Caroline fell to her side, her eyes widened whilst her back arched from the floor as Bonnie's magic caused Caroline's body to weaken._

 _The blond turned to look at Klaus who remained frozen on the spot with no power of movement, he watched Caroline roll into a foetal position as Bonnie came closer unleashing her full power on the hybrid._

 _The scene slowed as Kol, Elijah and Rebekah flashed in grabbing Caroline and straightening her limbs so that Elena, who had walked in with the white oak stake tightly gripped in her hand, could have a clear shot at the blonde's heart._

" _Elena, do it." Bonnie yelled. The brunette came to kneel beside Caroline facing Klaus so that Caroline's body was in full view._

 _She lifted the stake into the air over the blonde's chest, Caroline's head had rolled to face Klaus who saw her eyes open and look at him with orbs filled with anger and betrayal before the ocean blue of her eyes diminished into a pair of yellow eyes staring right at him._

" _Now!" Bonnie screamed out as the room began vibrating and blood seeped from Bonnie's nose._

" _Bonnie?!" Kol yelled seeing her eyes close and her body weaken. Kol's distraction was all Caroline needed, she gripped Kol's arm tightly and using all the strength she had left flipped him over towards Rebekah who fell back as Kol's body hit her._

 _Caroline pulled her wrist from Elijah's grip and grabbed the white oak stake which hovered over her, she pushed Elena back as she flashed to stand up._

 _She looked up and locked eyes with Klaus, part of him was relieved that she wasn't dead whilst the other part was scared of what she would do now. He watched the pure vulnerability show on her face as tears gathered in her eyes, she tilted her head and squinted wanting to ask him why he wouldn't help her? Why he had set this up?_

 _It barely took her a moment to realise that this was all part of whatever plan they had concocted._

" _Caroline…" he breathed out but immediately stopped speaking as he saw her eyes glisten with werewolf gold before they settled back to their blue. He watched the vulnerable look quickly disappear and be replaced by blankness._

 _Her eyes went down to the people lying on the floor all hurt in various ways, "No." Bonnie hissed as she opened her eyes and focused on Caroline who immediately flashed out of the boarding house leaving Klaus to stand in front of the burning fire looking down at his friends and siblings wondering what he was supposed to do now._

"I'll be right back," Rebekah murmured as she pulled away, "I promise." She whispered over her shoulder as she left the room closing the door behind her.

Taking a deep breath, Caroline pulled the window up and stepped through into the room, her eyes immediately fell on the sandy-blonde haired man on the bed. She slowly walked towards him, she took in his sight. Months since she'd seen him yet he hadn't changed in any way. Well, except for the wolf bite gracing his left arm.

"What did you get yourself into?" Caroline whispered, she looked around the room finding herself drawn towards a few sketchbooks littered across his desk. Her fingers danced across the top of the books, she flicked one open that she hadn't seen before. Her fingers landed on a sketch of Rebekah, she flicked over and found herself looking at Kol with a giant smirk on it. The next one showed Kol and Bonnie together the latter giving the former an unimpressed look. She flicked through again and saw a detailed drawing of the pendant she had gifted him, looking over her shoulder she noticed it was the only necklace that adorned his neck now.

She looked back to the pages in front of her and inhaled sharply as she found sketches upon sketches of herself, many of memories they had shared, a few from before they had officially met at the bench outside of the grill whilst some had never happened and Klaus had simply imagined them in the situation.

"Caroline…" she heard Klaus murmur, turning she found his eyes barely open but in her direction. "Sweetheart…you're not here." He whispered to himself as he smiled with mirth. "You're not here…"

Caroline moved towards him and gently sat beside him, "And what makes you think that?" He smiled in his delirious state.

"I hurt you…you'd never come for me…bec-because I betrayed you…" he stuttered out whilst gasping for air, Caroline laid her hand on his bare chest and brushed her thumb over his heart in a soothing manner.

"I'm right here."

"No you're not…this is the ha-hallucinations again…" Caroline tilted her head.

"Again?"

"You always come for me, to save me, but you always leave when you remember…" his words started slurring together as he began losing consciousness.

"Remember what?"

"How I hurt you." Caroline didn't know how to respond but didn't have to as Klaus continued, "I was so lost and confused…I didn't want them to hurt you." Caroline felt her heart tighten as he spoke, she looked at him carefully trying to find any hint of a lie.

"Why didn't you stop them?"

"It was too late…I didn't know how to…they were my friends and family. I had to protect them."

Caroline closed her eyes fighting back the tears, "but I wanted to protect you too…I wanted to keep you safe. I just didn't know how to with-without hurting them…" He took a sharp breath as his body arched from the bed, Caroline immediately moved round and pulled his head and upper torso into her arms. "I'm sor-sorry…don't leave me…"

"Shh," she shushed him softly as she bit into her wrist and pressed it against his lips where he latched onto after a moment's hesitation. "Everything'll be alright…" She pressed her cheek into his hair as she allowed him to continue to drink from her. "Everything's going to be alright." She brushed her free hand across his matted curls pushing them back and finding the colour rise back into his cheeks as he continued to drink.

 _Klaus slammed his door shut before leaning his head against the cold wood, his chest ached as the image of Caroline's face was etched into his brain. He ground his teeth together hating himself for not warning her or finding a way to stop what had happened._

 _He couldn't help himself from wondering where she was, he felt his throat tighten again as he turned round with closed eyes leaning his back against the door._

" _I should kill." His eyes snapped open to find Caroline staring out of his window into the night sky, the lamp on the bedside table dimly lit the room but he didn't have the strength to turn on the main light in fear of being able to see the anger she held towards him. "I should rip you from piece to piece." Her words were unusually soft compared to what she said._

 _Klaus swallowed the lump in his throat as he edged towards her. "You had this planned from the beginning, didn't you?" She turned to face him, he could see the emotionless eyes staring back at her, "The breakup between you and Elena wasn't real, right?" She chuckled darkly, "Though points for acting. You kept it consistent for weeks, I'm impressed." She moved closer smirking, "So tell me, did you fake caring for me and then talk about it in your little group meetings or was it a wait till the end to celebrate kinda' thing? Hmm?"_

" _It wasn't like that."_

" _And he speaks, and here I was beginning to think someone had already done me a favour and ripped out your vocal chords." She spoke with dark giddiness. "So tell me, how was it really?"_

" _I-I…I wanted to tell you."_

" _Before or after they killed me? 'Cos I think after may have been too late, right?"_

" _I'm sorry." She stared at him blankly before flashing towards him and pinning him against the door._

" _Sorry?" She chuckled, "Well, that must make everything better, you're sorry after all, aren't you?" She tossed him to the floor where he scrambled up and sat up against the bed._

" _Caroline, you've got to believe me, I didn't want you gone. I wanted to stop them, I wanted to warn you." The blond slowly walked towards him and crouched down in front of him._

" _Then why didn't you?" She asked feeling the emotion begin to get at her again and come out in her voice._

" _Because they're my family. I couldn't turn my back on them-"_

' _But you could on me." She finished for him, she placed her hand on his shoulder, "I should make you suffer for the way you played me." She looked at him with pure hurt and pain in her eyes, nothing to cover it up, no where to hide it. "I should kill every single one of them and make you watch as I rip out their hearts, I should make you beg for mercy," her voice became filled with emotion as her eyes began to water._

" _Nik! Hurry up, will you, we've got to get out of town!" They both heard Rebekah shout through the door. Caroline looked towards the door which she heard Rebekah pace behind. She turned back to Klaus whose eyes widened._

" _Don't…" he simply said gripping her free hand, a look of hurt crossed her face as she tilted her head looking straight into his eyes._

 _She lifted her fingers cupping his cheek, "Do you still think that low of me?" She asked in disbelief, tears ran down her cheeks as she choked on the words._

" _No, sweetheart-"_

" _Klaus!" They both heard Elena shout out for him as she came running up the stairs._

" _Goodbye Klaus." Caroline whispered gently rubbing her thumb along his stubble._

" _Caro-" before he could even say her name the door slammed open to reveal Elena whilst Caroline had flashed out of the room leaving Klaus sitting on the floor with nothing but longing in his heart for the blond who had done what they had planned._

 _She was gone._

As Klaus felt his body begin mending and the bite heal, he knew of only one person who could bring him this much relief, he gripped her hand entwining his fingers with hers making sure he had a strong hold on her as to not allow her to leave his side.

"Shh." She whispered against his hair, the sound easing Klaus' breathing as he had his fill and Caroline pulled her wrist away letting it knit back together and gently placed it across his chest.

A few moments passed before reality set in for both of them and Caroline shifter his head out of her lap and laid him back onto the bed, she moved to get up but was pulled back to sit by Klaus' entwined fingers.

"I thought you wouldn't come." He whispered hoarsely still regaining his strength.

"I had a bit of free time." She shrugged trying to pull her hand away from him but he wouldn't relent.

"Thank you." He said with utmost sincerity earning a nod from the hybrid. "Caroline…"

"Hmm?" She stared at his cornflower blue eyes finding herself lost in his gaze before his words sparked her back to life.

"I love you." Caroline blinked rapidly. She had tried her hardest to shut the part of her which cared for him out but found cracks in her resolve until there was no way for her to deny it. "I'm in love with you, Caroline."

"Really?" He nodded squeezing her hand tightly, "And what about Elena?" He chuckled,

"You were right all along, she and Elijah had been together since the beginning."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not." He opened his eyes and looked at her carefully, "I realised I didn't want _her,_ I want _you."_

Caroline shook her head and chuckled in disbelief. "I'm not a rebound, especially to a doppleganger." He tried to pull himself up but his body refused to move.

"I know you're not." His eyes felt heavy with sleep but he forced himself to continue to talk, "When I was with you, you made my entire world brighter. She was nothing compared to you. The closer we got, the more I wanted. With her we only had the friendship and nothing more. That turned to hell anyway once I realised what had been going on between her and Elijah."

Caroline looked down but felt Klaus lift it up, "I want _you,_ I love _you."_

"You hurt me. You made me believe you cared only to want to kill me in the end-"

"I didn't-"

"You went along with the plan regardless of how you felt for me."

"Caroline-"

"But I understand why you chose them. But you can't expect to tell me you love me and for me to fall right back into your arms and forget about everything that happened."

"I don't expect that, love. I'll wait for you, however long it takes. All I want is _you_." His voice trailed off as the need for sleep overcame him.

"Go to sleep, Klaus."

"Nik, call me Nik…" his voice was heavy with exhaustion, "Please don't leave me…please be here when I wake up…"

"Shh."

"Promise me, promise you'll be here when I wake up…" She brushed her fingers across his curls as she soothingly whispered:

"Sleep, Nik…" He mumbled her name once more before completely dozing off, Caroline slowly pulled her fingers free from his hold before leaning up and gently pressing her lips against his forehead. She stood up and slowly moved towards the window, looking over her shoulder once more to memorise the features of his face and the way his dimples showed as he snored lightly.

After a few minutes, Rebekah entered the room with another damp cloth to wipe away the sweat on his face, she rushed over to him wanting to wake him up immediately to wait for the cure when she stilled seeing the freshly healed arm as if there had been no bite on it in the first place.

"How…?" She looked around the room trying to find a sign of Caroline but there was none, she moved towards Klaus' desk where she saw his sketch book opened to a page with Caroline's smiling face as she was twirled by an anonymous hand.

Rebekah smiled to herself, Caroline hadn't given up on her brother just as he hadn't on her.

 _ **A few months later…**_

"Happy birthday, Nik." Klaus closed his eyes in relief as he heard her voice, he stood in front of the Trevi fountain having just thrown a coin into the water making a wish which had just come true.

"Hello, love." She smirked at him dressed in a white babydoll dress that made her legs look like they stretched for miles. She bit her lip as she walked towards him slowly and held out what looked like a sketch book.

He looked at it in confusion before taking it from her hands allowing his fingers to brush against hers, "What it is?" He asked.

"Open it and you'll find out." Following her instructions he inhaled sharply as he saw picture upon picture of himself, memories of their time together, moments that were engraved in both of their minds, he stared at the in awe. The detailing was to perfection and the light pencil strokes were so precise. "I learned how to draw." She shrugged as he looked at her in disbelief, "What? I had a bit of spare time."

He chuckled flicking through the pages until he landed on a sketch of a man, himself, facing away from the sketcher, clothes were tossed all around him whilst he focused on something on the dresser in front of him. He instantly remembered the moment.

"I love you." She repeated the words she had spoken then. I'm in love with you Nik Mikaelson.

Looking up at her he held out his hand towards her which she slowly took to be pulled closer to him. "I love you, too." He whispered back before pressing his lips against hers, they explored each other's touch and broke apart panting for breath. "I'm in love with you, Caroline Salvatore."

 **So was it alright?**

 **I'm so sleep deprived and I spent the entire day writing this instead of preparing for a maths test. Pffht, who cares about maths anyway when you've got Klaroline to write about? :D**


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone, sorry it's been such a long time but school and yada, yada, yada.

I was totally inspired by Castle and CSI New York for this one. I hope you like it, any details you recognise are mine, they either belong to the fantastic Castle creators of CSI NY creators.

I hope you enjoy and don't forget to tell me what you think at the end :D

Oneshot: Caroline and Klaus are detectives, they're called to figure out how a person died and have to work their way through a rigged house and puzzles.

 _ **New York City…**_

" _911, what's your emergency?"_

" _I'm gonna' die, you've got to help me please!"_

" _Sir is there someone attacking you?"_

" _I'm at 20405 Central Park West East Penthouse, please hurry…please…"_

* * *

"Stop that!" Caroline hissed as she pushed Klaus' feet off her desk, he smirked at her before she sucked in a deep breath as she readied herself to launch into a scolding speech for the dirty-blond haired man.

"Forbes, Mikaelson! In here, now." Caroline's head snapped to attention as she heard Alaric's voice reverberate through the entire 3rd floor of the building, she immediately stood to attention and strode towards the office before she scowled as she saw Klaus stride in line with her out of the corner of her eye.

"Captain Saltzman." Caroline greeted him as she stepped through the door, she heard the door slam shut behind her just as the brown haired man behind the desk slid across a file for the blond to swiftly take hold of and open.

"A 911 call?" Klaus scoffed behind Caroline as he scanned the report, "I thought we were more homicide than missing persons." He muttered though it was clearly loud enough for their Captain to hear.

"We are. But if you'll take a few more seconds to comprehend the report, Mikaelson, you'll soon learn why it's been directed towards us."

Klaus pursed his lips as the words fell together, he opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the determined blond in front of him. "Dead man in the building."

"Correction, dead _mummified_ man in the building by the name of Atticus Shane." Alaric stated causing both detectives to furrow their brows.

"Mummified…wait, so who made the 911 call?" Klaus questioned as he let his fingers grace over the detail on the report causing his skin to graze against Caroline's.

"A man named Marcellus Gerard."

"Is he in holding?" Caroline questioned not finding the details on the writing before her.

"No, it appears he's still in the penthouse owned by a man named Malakai Parker which is where the call came from," seeing the curious expression on both of their faces he continued, "when forensics processed the house they found no footprints leaving the house, only entering. The front door was bolted from the inside when officers went in. Phone records show Gerard did make the call from within the house."

"But they haven't been able to find him?" Alaric shook his head at Caroline.

"So I've decided to send you two in whilst the rest of the team will be processing the body and evidence already collected."

"Us two?" Caroline exclaimed as she heard Klaus' light chuckles resound in her ear whilst his breath hit her neck causing the hair on the nape of her neck stand on end. Alaric raised his brow.

"Is there a problem, Forbes?" Alaric asked narrowing his eyes as he glanced between the two.

"Of course not, Captain." She replied plastering a smile across her lips.

"Good because that 911 call was made 6 hours ago so I suggest you both get moving. Salvatore will meet you there and outline what they've found so far." Captain said as he nodded dismissing them.

"Don't get in my way Mikaelson." Caroline said as she grabbed her gun from the drawer of her desk as Klaus ambled past her.

"I wouldn't dream of it, love." He returned smirking at her, he raised his brow in challenge as she glared at him before rolling her eyes as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and strode down the hall towards the elevator.

"That's what you said last time…" she narrowed her eyes dangerously, "…and remember what happened…"

" _Dammit, Mikaelson what the hell are you playing at?" She muttered to herself as she tightened her hold on her gun, the blond carefully edged her way around the van before freezing as her eyes locked onto the gun that was jammed against Klaus' throat whilst the arm of the dark haired man behind him was wrapped around his neck holding the blond-haired, blue-eyed man in a choke hold._

" _Put the gun down-"_

" _Don't move-"_

 _Caroline kept her eyes steady on the gun and the man who was now pulling Klaus back as they moved towards the fence behind them. "Let him go, Augustine!" Caroline shouted clearly as she kept her gun up pointed at him._

" _Easy, easy." Klaus murmured as he felt himself be forced back._

" _Klaus, you okay?" The blond asked sparing a glance in his direction._

" _Yes!" The struggle echoed through the alley, "Psycho here could use a breath mint."_

" _Shut up!" Enzo hissed as he pushed his back against the corner of the fence trying to find a weak point which he could break through and use to get away._

" _Ok, ok," Klaus panted before he composed himself, "you know what's bugging me, if you were that deep in debt, why didn't you just ask your father for money?"_

 _Caroline saw the rage in Enzo's features build again, "Klaus, you're not helping!" She heard the blond hiss as Enzo slammed Klaus' side into the wall causing his bleeding leg to smash against the brick._

 _Not being deterred by the agony that shot through his knee, he continued, "You know what I think…I think you did ask and he said no. He always said no. Self-mannered man like that I think he thought you were weak for asking."_

 _Enzo pressed the barrel of the gun harder into Klaus' neck whilst Caroline kept her eyes focused on Enzo, she slowly moved closer as the dark haired man spoke._

" _He was the one who was weak," he spat out tightening his arm around Klaus neck, "I was trying to make something of my life but all he cared about was her."_

 _Realization struck Klaus' features as the pieces began to fall in place, "That's why you killed her, it wasn't just for the money, you wanted to punish him before he died. Take away the only thing he loved."_

 _Enzo slammed his foot against the fence as he tried to break it down, "Augustine, let him go. It's over!" Her voice echoed against the brick walls. Finding no way out of the alley, Enzo focused on Caroline as she moved closer._

" _It's not over, it's not over! Drop the gun," he pulled the gun from Klaus' neck to point towards Caroline, "or I swear to God I'll-" He was halted as Klaus' elbow slammed into his nose throwing Enzo off balance and allowing the blond man to grab hold of his gun pointing it towards Augustine's direction as the dark haired man fell against the wall._

 _Caroline raced towards Enzo as she pulled his hands behind his back cuffing his wrists together whilst pushing his front into the wall._

" _Good job-"Klaus began before he felt himself be forced against the wall by the petite blond._

" _What the hell were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed, what part of stay in the car did you not understand?!" She said in a hard voice before looking at his leg, "You were shot in the leg for God's sake." She panted keeping her eyes locked on his, she gritted her teeth together as she saw a smirk peak from his lips. "Don't ever do that again!"_

" _Sweetheart, the safety was on the whole time." He gestured towards the gun before resting his head against the wall with a school-boy smirk. Caroline stilled as she glanced towards the gun before shaking her head in Klaus' direction._

" _You know you could have told me." She hissed as she pulled Enzo to his feet._

" _Now where's the fun in that..?"_

"Just stay out of my way, Klaus."

"Of course, love." He replied in a soft reassuring tone but Caroline didn't buy it.

Especially with the smirk that he was sporting across his lips.

* * *

"We checked every room, closet, cross base, any place a person might hide or dead body could be stashed." Stefan spoke as he entered the main room.

"And all possible points of escape." Caroline added coming up behind Stefan as she looked around the main room.

The décor was simply old. The floor was covered in dark brown floorboards whilst there was a large square in the middle of the room made up of tiles creating a picture of an angel. The walls were dark and some areas were lined with cobwebs. The windows were stained coloured glass that would usually be found in churches but suited the old, decaying manner of the room.

"Marcellus Gerard's gotta' be in this penthouse," Klaus said as he glanced between Caroline and Stefan. His mind was running in circles as he looked around the room trying to find anything that seemed out of place but it was a particularly difficult feat as everything seemed to have arrived from a previous era.

"There's no evidence suggesting he ever got out of here." Caroline said supporting Klaus' opinion, a thing that only occurred once in a blue moon. Caroline had to admit that he was a good detective, an arrogant ass surely but a good detective nonetheless and sometimes she would find herself on the same page as him.

Pursing his lips Stefan eyed both detectives and sighing, "Do we rule out 'vanishing into thin air' cos were the hell could this guy have disappeared?" He earned an incredulous from both blond causing him to step back in a surrendering pose. "Just asking." He murmured.

Caroline turned to look back at the entrance before her eyes cause sight of the opening in the wall that had previously led them all to an undiscovered area. "Stef, you said on the first search of the apartment no one found the utility room?" Caroline squinted at the wall like appearance of the door which had mysteriously appeared once Stefan had returned with herself and Klaus, she bit at her lips as she turned back round slowly eyeing the walls.

"Yeah, it's like it popped up out of nowhere," a beat passed before he hummed out the theme tune of the Exorcist causing Caroline to scoff and Klaus to raise his brow unimpressed. Stefan may have been his best friend but on some days he was simply crazy.

"Out of nowhere, huh?" Caroline murmured tilting her head as her cornflower blue eyes locked onto the murky grey paint that coated the wall which stood behind two green vases and a bookstand. Nibbling her lower lip, she moved across the room as she grabbed a crating knife from the wooden table that stood before the windows and moved towards the wall. She brushed her hand against the cobweb pulling it away before setting the knife against the wall and using her strength to drag the metal along the wall and marking a cross.

Both Klaus and Stefan watched her carefully wondering what she was doing, they observed as she brushed her fingers of the marking and scratched at it. "There's…" she began as she put the knife to the side and grabbed a poker stick to dig into the marking she had carved. She continued digging through until grey dust fell to the ground causing her stop as she scratched at the material beneath the wall, "…there's concrete behind this plaster." She murmured hitting her fist against the wall allowing loose concrete pieces to fall. "It's pretty damn thick."

Klaus narrowed his eyes moving closer just as Stefan did, "Why would you have cement interior walls on the 25th floor of a New York City penthouse?"

"There could be hidden passages between these rooms?" Stefan replied, "Malakai Parker, the man who designed this place, could have put them in?" He said as he drew closer observing the concrete that had been discovered, he stepped onto a tile causing it to shift and move down.

"Stefan!" He heard both blonds shout causing him to jump forward as he felt the air shit behind him.

"What the hell?" Caroline whispered as they watched Stefan narrowly avoid being impaled on a rod with jagged metal edges on the end that were heading directly towards Stefan's back as it sliced through the air before shooting back up to the ceiling to be concealed by a tiny opening above them. "Stef, you okay?" Caroline asked concerned as the brunette's wide eyes were locked to the ceiling.

"Yeah." He breathed out swallowing hard. "What the hell was that?"

Klaus glanced at Caroline whilst the blond shared his look of curiosity and surprise, deciding to take charge he spoke, "Both of you move towards the door." He ordered keeping his eyes on the ceiling as he moved towards Caroline and gently pressed his hand against her back urging her to do so quickly. He pulled away as he felt the sliver of bare skin against her waist but pushed the feeling of her soft skin to the back of his mind, "Be careful." He stated following Caroline's movement with his eyes ensuring she got to Stefan safely.

Once the pair had arrived on the other side of the tiled floor having edged around it, Klaus carefully took an ornate metal statue and moved towards the tile that had released the spike. He glanced at Caroline and Stefan before shifting his weight and easing the heavy statue on the tile. He stepped back immediately to watch the tile move down to release the spike which stopped directly above the tile in question to hang from the ceiling.

"Pressure trigger." He announced gesturing towards the tile. Caroline moved round coming to stand in front of the spike, she glanced down towards the statue then back towards Klaus. "After the weapon's done its job," he looked at the spike just as Caroline got out her torch and shone it on the jagged edges of the weapon, "the pressure is taken off the trigger and it retracts." His fingers followed the route back up the ceiling before squinting at the single large square tile on the ceiling.

"Keep the pressure on the tile and it doesn't reload for the next unsuspecting victim." She murmured with a hint of awe as she shone the torch along the weapon before it settled back on the spikes. "We've got our murder weapon," she said spotting the dry blood covering the spikes.

"This whole house is a murder weapon." Stefan said creeped out by the mere idea of having a spike shoot out of the ceiling to kill intruders. He watched fascinated as Caroline moved the torch around the tiles letting it come to a standstill on the edge of an outer one. "What's wrong?"

"Mikaelson." Klaus observed the spot she gestured at, he saw the partly lifted tile on the edge, grabbing a tin metal ruler from his kit box, Klaus crouched beside the tile as Caroline did the same next to him. She looked around the room as Klaus carefully eased the ruler under the edge of the tile.

"I hope you both know what you're doing." Stefan spoke as he saw Caroline and Klaus glance at each other, the former nodded and the blond carefully lifted partially lifted the tile as the trio looked around the room in anticipation of another trap but were relieved as none appeared once the tile was removed and placed to the side.

Caroline tilted her head as she reached out to shuffle the tile on the corner, she released a breath in disbelief when the tile slid into the empty space, "These tiles were designed to slide," she moved the one above the corner down into the now empty space before looking from Stefan to Klaus, "just like a child's number puzzle…1 through 15."

"You move each one, you place them in number order thus creating an image," Caroline slide the tiles back to their previous positions whilst Klaus placed the tile he had taken out back in, "it's a giant slide puzzle that's already been solved."

"And the reward for putting the last piece in place," she stood and moved round towards the spike, "is to be impaled by a swinging bed of knives."

"Guess our Vic', Atticus Shane, was the unlucky winner." Stefan adding pressing his lips together as he eyed the sharp edges. Klaus let out a disbelieving scoff as he looked around the room.

"Malakai Parker was an inventor. This room…maybe this entire penthouse was his greatest creation." Stefan nodded as he looked at Klaus taking in his words.

"Ok…" He looked back at the spike, "Knowing _that_ how do we find Marcellus Gerard?" Klaus pressed his lips together.

"We play Parker's game." He replied in a resolute tone.

"Things just got a little more difficult." Caroline said breaking the beat of silence that settled on the room.

"And a lot more dangerous…" Klaus eyed the bloodstained spikes that hung from the ceiling.

* * *

"What I'm saying Nik is that th-this library i-it isn't a library," Kol spoke as he fumbled trying to catch hold of the opposite end of the large blueprint, "I mean it-it is a library but it-it's a library-"

"Kol!" Klaus groaned out, he held his phone tightly in his hand watching Kol staring confused at the paper as he stumbled around in the frame of the video. Caroline couldn't help the smile that crept along her lips as she watched annoyance paint his features.

"Sorry Nik, I'm just kinda' off my game today." He murmured putting the paper down and pressing his hands on the illuminated table in front of him

Seeing Klaus' expression soon turn to frustration, Caroline sighed and strode towards him immediately taking the phone from his hand and smiling at Kol who continued to stare at the blueprint in nothing but confusion. "Kol, look don't stress about Bonnie, I'm sure if you act like a decent human being for once and simply ask her out she'll consider it. Now get to the point, will you?" Kol's eyes widened at her words as he stared at Caroline through the laptop screen on his side.

"How did you-"

"Everyone knows and if you're lucky I might be persuaded to give over a few secrets to your advantage but first spill." Kol nodded composing himself, he released a deep breath calming down and focusing purely on the case.

"Ok. The short story. This blueprint is _useless._ If you're standing where you say you're standing then everything's been changed around and nothing matches the original plan, I mean-"He was interrupted as Damon slid into the frame placing his hand on Kol's shoulder.

"Wait, wait, wait, listen to this. I found a ledger from 1922, apparently Parker spent some serious bucks to pimp this place out. I mean _major_ renovations, it was a two year 300'000 dollar project, at the time that was a whole load of money-"

"More than 4 million by today's standards." Klaus stated as he stood beside Caroline listening to Damon's words. Caroline's eyes widened at the amount wondering why and how someone would spend that much on simply renovating _one_ apartment.

"Right," Damon continued, "and he hired different contractors to complete the construction in stages, I mean none of them were told what the finished product would be." Damon's eyes followed the notes on a few newspaper clippings in front of him noting the construction, "There was a lot of mystery and speculation over what Parker was doing up there."

Caroline nodded as she listened to Damon, "Ok, we'll need an updated floor plan, find out if one exists."

"Of course, Blondie." Damon replied with a smirk before Caroline rolled her eyes and disconnected the call.

After the screen went blank Damon looked back at the ledger whilst Kol glanced at the blueprint. "So, who's gonna' crack first?" Damon asked nonchalantly keeping his eyes on the words in front of him. Kol raised his brow as if taking a moment to think about it.

"Nik, definitely. Remember the 'Ice Age' case?" Damon nodded his lips turning up into a smirk, "Neither actually told any of us what happened when they were trapped so I'm thinking one of them _did_ make a move…."

" _I j-just wish this w-was a stupid d-dream…" Caroline murmured softly as the cold continued to bite at her skin relentlessly. The silence descended back on them only to be accompanied by shivers and harsh breaths as the icy air burnt their lungs. Caroline closed her eyes but was met with nothing but the freezing feeling that had enveloped her. "I always thought, being a cop, I'd take a bullet…I never thought I'd freeze to death."_

" _Hey…" Klaus whispered back pressing his cheek against her cold dull hair that had lost its golden shine, "…we-we're n-not dead y-yet." Caroline let out a small breath that sounded like a tired moan._

" _I wish this was just another story and we could re-rewrite th-the ending…" she released a series of shivers, her breath escaped as a puff of white smoke as it left her lips. Her body was near to fully becoming numb, the arm which had wrapped around her tightly acting as the only sensation left keeping her nerves alive. She felt Klaus squeeze her arm reassuringly as he breathed out cold air that dissipated into the room._

" _I'm so-sorry…" he said, he pushed his head further back into the metal wall of the large walk-in freezer, his scalp burnt at the touch as the ice dug through his hair into his skin._

" _For what?" Caroline asked trying to keep her eyes open, the cold was consuming all the strength that she had remaining and there was no way she would be able to last long. Klaus dragged the cold air into his lungs trying to ignore the burn running down his throat._

" _F-for b-being me…." His body shivered harshly as his muscles began constricting under the cold conditions, "For go-going rogue…for g-getting y-you into this." He gasped but air as he tried to continue, "I-If we hadn't h-have g-gone-"_

" _Shhh…Klaus" Caroline said gently, "Just…shhh…"her voice withered away as the air was slowly being frozen inside her lungs, pulling more in she continued, "You were r-right. We f-found the b-bomb." Her face was free from expression, the temperature freezing the muscles in her features. "We were j-just late…"_

 _Klaus tightened his grip on her, he forced his other hand up from its frozen position to come and rest on Caroline's other arm, both blondes fought for breath as Caroline twisted her body slowly trying to get herself out of the frozen position she was in. She rested her head against his cheek, her hair tickling at his ear._

" _Klaus…" She whispered, her nose lightly grazing his jaw._

" _Hmm…" he hummed back as he wrapped his hands tightly around her body embracing her as she rested against him. Caroline inhaled a stuttered breath as she lifted her head whilst Klaus turned his face towards her._

" _Thank you…"she whispered, she stretched out her fingers to touch his chin whilst she slowly pressed her lips against the corner of his, he let out a shaky breath at her touch, her lips scorched against his skin as they touched, "…for being there…" her voice trailed off as her eyes closed, she fought to keep her fingers in contact with his jaw._

" _Always…" he murmured back keeping tight hold of her body._

" _I just want you…to know…how much…I…" her voice died on her tongue as the bitter air trapped it within her throat, her fingers slipped down from his jaw against his chest where it rested against his heart._

 _Klaus turned his face further ignoring the ache in his neck, his eyes came to rest on her pale, motionless face. Her body became limp in his arms as he saw a breath escape her lips and dissipate into the cold._

" _Caroline," he tried shaking her but his arm refused to move, "Caroline, st-stay with me…" he pleaded, he pulled his hand into motion feeling for her face and pressed her head closer to him trying to envelope her body with his, he pressed his cheek harder against her head trying to feel something-anything- but all he could feel was the numbness setting in._

"It'll always be Nik, Caroline is too proud."

"Care to make a wager of it?"

"How much we talking, Salvatore?" Damon smirked peeling his eyes away from the book to look at Kol.

"50." Kol stood straighter.

"Make it a 100 and we have a deal." Damon hesitated for a second before placing out his hand which Kol shook gingerly.

"You better have that 100 ready, Mikaelson, I don't accept IOU's." The younger brunette smirked as he pulled his hand away and looked back at the paper in front of him. There was no way he was losing to the arrogant Salvatore prick.

* * *

"So Bonnie and Kol, huh?" Klaus murmured chuckling as Caroline tossed the phone back to him.

"I didn't know you were one for gossip, Klaus." Caroline said smirking at his sudden interest, Klaus rolled his eyes.

"Not gossip, sweetheart, just looking out for my brother." The young blond scoffed as she heard his words.

"I didn't know you cared." Klaus painted a hurt expression over his face as he clutched at his chest.

"Ouch, you wound me, love. Of course I care."

"Hmm, funny. Where was your caring when Kol was wandering around New York City drunk off his ass?" Klaus smirked remembering the time the brunette had made a complete and utter fool of himself after going to a bar and drinking a whole barrel of liquid courage before wandering aimlessly around the streets trying to serenade every girl that passes him by.

"I did care, he needed to learn his lesson and anyway, I knew exactly where he was the whole time." Caroline narrowed her eyes.

"How?"

"GPS."

"Control freak." The blond muttered under her breath yet it was loud enough for Klaus to hear whilst the latter ambled closer to her.

"Says you." Caroline raised her perfectly curved eyebrow glaring at him with her arms crossed over her chest.

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?" She demanded through clenched teeth as Klaus stilled right in front of her causing his manly scent to try and envelope her being. Klaus could see the pink blush that rose up on her creamy skin settling on her cheeks and he couldn't help but wonder how far down the vibrant colour went, if he stopped at the peak of her perky chest or continued down to her curvy waist. Oh what he would give to trace it all the way down as she _writhed_ beneath him _panting in his ear as he pressed hot, searing kisses along the column of her throat. To have her dig her nails into his back and scratch all the way down as her creamy, mile long legs wrapped around his waist whilst he pushed his way into-_

"Klaus." The man blinked rapidly as he was pulled from his daydream and his eyes fell back to the woman standing before him. "What did you mean?" He swallowed hard trying to get rid of the dryness in his throat as he locked his eyes with Caroline's. He saw the unbridled fury and passion in her cornflower blue orbs and couldn't help but smirk knowing that he had created that mixture of emotions. Composing himself fully he replied:

"Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about, love." He tapped his finger against her nose as he sidestepped her and walked towards the doors before coming to stand still as he eyed the room once again. "The better question is, why would Atticus Shane play a game that could get him killed?" Sighing Caroline focused all her energy towards this mystery instead of the ass sharing the same room as her.

"Maybe he didn't know the stakes." The blond moved round the tiled square to stand on the opposite corner to Klaus, "Or, he knew the stakes but was forced to play." Klaus nodded storing the theories in his head. "An angel." He saw Caroline staring at the tiled ground. "A fallen angel." She looked up towards the ceiling sighing as she spotted the large square mimicking the one on the ground but it had no separate tile pieces within. He tilted his head catching sight of the image. An angel with his wings spread out as he flew in front of an illuminated cloud. "A message to a friend who's now an enemy." She said, her voice being a quiet murmur dancing alongside the quite hum of the city that entered the room.

"Looks like there's some kind of theme going on here," Klaus said as he looked from the images back to the spikes that acted as a weapon, "do those look like wings to you?" Caroline followed his line of sight.

"Yeah." She whispered as she moved closer to him, Klaus pointed at the angel's hand.

"He's pointing, that can't be a coincidence." Using the beam from the torch, Caroline followed the direction of the angel's hand until the light fell on the object. "The bookstand." Klaus and Caroline shared a look before moving towards it, the young blond gently placed the tips of her fingers on the cover as Klaus glanced around them making sure there were no more surprise weapons in store.

Caroline carefully opened the cover ready to spring out of the way of any booby-traps, seeing none she sighed in relief as she flicked through the crinkled pages. "No title, no author" she continued to flick through seeing no writing, "blank pages." She stilled as Klaus placed his hand over hers stopping any more movement, they both ignored the burning heat between their skin.

He gestured towards a thin yellow ribbon tucked between the pages which was visible from the bottom of the thick book. He carefully lifted the pages up parting them to see the full length of the ribbon which was accompanied with a page that had neat cursive writing printed on it.

"Except this one." Klaus murmured before reading out the words, "If a Redhouse is made of red bricks and a Bluehouse is made of blue bricks. What is a Greenhouse made of?"

"Glass." Caroline answered, "A greenhouse is made of glass." She looked around the room. "Well the windows would be too obvious."

"Two vases. Both glass?" Klaus pointed his torch towards each vase as they seemed to be made of green glass.

"It's part of the game." Caroline looked from one vase to the other.

"50-50 chance that we're right." The blonde's lips turned up as an idea sprung into her head.

"I can do one better than that." She moved around Klaus towards the first vase where she licked the tip of her finger.

"Careful Caroline." Klaus said as a hint of worry bled through his voice, she nodded taking in his words before locking eyes with the vase and setting her finger on the rim of the ornament, she looked towards Klaus as she moved her finger around the edge. Her lips curved up into a gentle smile as she let out a breath of disbelief whilst the room was filled with an angelic hum. Klaus' brow rose curiously.

"It's crystal. Crystal sings." She pulled her hand away, "This isn't glass."

"Impressive." Klaus admitted earning a humble nod from the blond as she moved around him to the other vase.

"Thank you." She repeated the process placing her finger on the rim of the vase and sliding it around, the lack of sound making her carefully wrap both hands around the waist of the vase and gentle try to ease it off, she felt the vase give way on one side whilst the other side remained steady in what seemed to be a hinge-like manoeuvre. She continued to ease the vase up from one side before she shivered as a deep rumbling echoed through the room, she looked at Klaus before they both observed the ceiling where the rumbling seemed to originate, the sound moved along towards the far wall that had a bookcase filled with novels and cobwebs in front of it.

Klaus and Caroline's eyes widened as the seemingly firm wall slowly span around coming to a halt exactly perpendicular to the position it had been before. "You've got to be kidding me." Caroline whispered as she moved towards Klaus and used the torch to light up the newly discovered room that was already dimly lit. She dropped her hand as she licked her lips.

"I'll shoot you if you say ladies first…" Klaus couldn't help the grin that erupted across his features hearing her remark.

"I love it when you're feisty." He murmured as he stepped towards the new room…

" _Not a bad first day, Mikaelson." Caroline said sending him an impressed look before it fell completely off her face, "But it isn't going to be like this every day. You can't use your_ charm _to woo the suspects or the victims. And I don't know how they ran things down in Britain but here you_ can't _take home souvenirs,_ especially _not any guns or case files that haven't been authorized to be taken. Clear?" He smirked at her but suppressed it when she gave him a hard look._

" _Crystal." He replied as he stood up from his seat beside Caroline's desk as the blond mimicked his motions. He looked at her intently flashing her his dimples._

" _It's a pleasure to be working with you, Detective Forbes." He said in a gentle voice, his eyes locking onto hers, Caroline suddenly felt her lungs collapse as she saw the depths of his azure blue eyes before she froze as he leaned in and softly pressed his lips against her skin. He pulled away giving her an intent look before moving around her and walking towards the elevator as Caroline's lips parted and a breath was finally released from her lungs._

 _Needing a minute, she slowly sat back at her desk picking up her pen as she leaned over to lose herself in paperwork instead of the burn that coursed along her skin. She looked over her shoulder biting her lip as the elevator doors closed on her new partner._

 _She allowed a small smile to cross her lips, maybe this one wouldn't be as bad or as annoying as the last. She looked down at the file._

 _Her pen slipped from her fingers as her eyes narrowed._

 _That bastard._

 _ **20 minutes later**_

 _Klaus smirked as he heard his mother's voice. "Niklaus, dear, there's a nice woman here to see you-" His lips widened into a grin as the doors to his study were slammed open and the tell-tale click of heels echoed in the room._

" _Niklaus Mikaelson, I should put you under arrest for felony theft and obstruction of justice!" She clearly stated as he turned in his chair and leaned back with a smug look._

" _You forget 'and for making you look bad'." She slammed her hand against his desk as she leaned down coming face to face with him as she glared into his eyes._

" _You know for a minute there you actually made me believe you were human." His smirk falter. "I should cuff you." She pulled her handcuffs from her back pocket slamming them onto the desk._

" _Oohh, bondage. My safety word is apples." He replied with a wink earning a sarcastic smile as she grabbed the handcuffs and quickly slipped one end around his wrist twisted his arm and hooked the other on his other wrist. "Ouch, I didn't know you were the sardonic type, detective Forbes, hmm, kinky." She pulled him from his chair and led him towards the front door._

" _Shut it, Mikaelson…" She hissed pushing him through the door…_

* * *

Rebekah strode determinedly through the glass doors into the lab that Kol was working in, she came to stand beside him as she leaned her hip against the table. Kol kept his eyes locked onto the sample under his microscope instead of talking to the blond he knew was standing beside him having heard the clicks of her heels on the smooth floor.

After a few moments of silence, Rebekah sighed and proceeded to break it with three simple words. "I want in." Kol smirked but didn't look up towards her. "Did you hear me? I want in."

"Hello to you too, I'm fine thanks for asking, sister." Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"Cut the crap, Kol. Damon told me all about your little bet and I want to be included. 100 on Caroline breaking first." Kol finally looked up from the microscope suppressing the giddiness that threatened to cross his face.

"Are you sure, Bekah'? That's a whole load of money, think of all the shoes you could buy with that." Rebekah narrowed her eyes.

"Shut up." She hissed through gritted teeth. "We all know she's falling for him, especially after everything that happened with Montgomery…"

" _If I give you name, I know you and you'll run straight at him. I might as well shoot you were you stand." Captain Montgomery said as he stood a few feet away from Caroline in the plane hangar. He saw the determined look carved into her features and knew the woman he was looking at was everything he had wanted her to become since the first day they met._

" _That's why you brought me here, isn't it, to kill me?" She asked in a hard voice as she moved closer to him whilst he remained rooted to the ground._

" _No," he said simply keeping his eyes locked on hers, "I brought you here to lure them." Caroline gave him an incredulous look._

" _You baited them?" He looked towards the entrance of the hangar as a black jeep crept round the corner in the distance._

" _Yes. And now, they're coming." Caroline's head snapped in the direction he was looking and she caught sight of the vehicle. "They're coming to kill you and I'm not going to let them." He looked at her resolutely, his eyes never wavering. "I'm going to end this."_

" _I'm not going anywhere, sir."_

" _Yes you are." He glanced over her shoulder, "Mikaelson, get her out of here." Caroline looked over her shoulder spotting Klaus who moved closer._

" _Captain I-"_

" _Don't argue." Captain Montgomery cut him off immediately. "It's why I called you here. Get her out of here, now!" He hissed._

 _Caroline felt Klaus' hand try to grasp her arm but brushed him away as she stepped closer to the dark skinned man who kept looking at the car which continued to move closer. "Captain, please just listen to me," her voice welled up with emotion, "you don't have to do this-"_

" _Caroline." Klaus whispered as he saw the black jeep get closer, she pulled her arm away from his touch again as she continued to plead with the man before her._

" _No, please, no, Sir." She stepped closer, "I forgive you. She placed her hand on his chest making him look at her. "I_ forgive _you." He slammed his eyes shut before reopening them and looking directly at the woman in front of him._

" _This is my spot, Caroline." Caroline shook her head as tears welled in her eye, "_ This _is where I stand."_

" _No…" she whispered._

" _Mikaelson." The Captain ordered, both men seeing that the car was close, too closer._

" _No, no, please, listen to me you don't have to do this."_

 _Both men heard the sound of an engine drawing closer, they looked towards the car, Klaus' eyes widened as it began to speed up. "Mikaelson, get her o0ut of here. Now!" He exclaimed._

" _You don't have to-"Klaus grabbed her but she refused to mover._

" _Caroline-"_

" _No, please." She shouted as Klaus wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up, she kicked out her legs wanting him to stop as he raced them towards the back exit of the hangar. "Klaus, please, don't!" He slammed them through the door as the echo of the car engine grew louder. "Klaus let me go!" She began crying, her sobs catching in her throat as she tried to grab onto the frame of the door failing as the blond rushed her through._

" _No!" She screamed as they grew closer to Klaus' car, he released her catching her as she tried to move past him._

" _Sh, sh, Caroline." He hushed her, she tried pushing him out of the way but he pinned her body with his against the car as he brushed her hair back and covered her mouth with his hand. He glanced over his shoulder checking that no one had come through to follow them. "Shhh…" he whispered as he felt her hand reach up to his face as he brushed back her hair keeping her head pinned to the car. "It's okay, I'm sorry…I'm so sorry." She pressed her hands to his cheeks trying to find comfort in his presence as he wrapped his arm around her waist keeping her pressed to him so that she wouldn't make a sound to draw anyone towards them "It's okay, it's okay."_

 _They froze as two shots rang out into the air, Klaus felt her body slide down the frame of the car, he held her tighter as he pressed his hand over her mouth muffling the scream that she let out. "Shh…sweetheart, please…" He murmured keeping her trapped between himself and the car, "I'm so sorry…" He whispered over and over again as he felt her body sag into his, "I'm sorry…"_

Rebekah gritted her teeth as she caught her brother's attention again, "I'm in, right?" Kol waited for a moment faking hesitation before he nodded slowly.

"Fine." Rebekah smiled with an air of accomplishment before she turned on her heel.

"Oh, Matt's in as well. He's betting on Nik breaking first though." She pursed her lips, "Maybe I should tell him Nik won't make the first move especially with her." She saw Kol shrug which she mimicked. "Hmm you're right, you win some you lose some." She threw the words over her shoulder as she walked out of the lab leaving Kol to himself as he grinned widely.

"Absolutely right, dear sister. You win some, you lose some…"

* * *

Klaus stepped over the threshold of the room the light from his torch guiding his way as he noted the features of the room. It fit in beautifully with the rest of the décor which was similar if not the same as the previous room. Classic ornaments lined the mantelpiece but where covered with shining webs whilst the grand throne like chair in the middle of the room was sprinkled with dust.

Caroline followed Klaus into the newly discovered space, her light fell on the piano first. She noted that the keys had been covered yet a music book stood on its stand whilst past era mementos lined the top of the piano. She shone her torch around the room before she moved towards an elegant dressing table which had pearl necklaces and bracelets carefully placed on the surface. A black bow tie hung over one of the mirrors as clippings of a woman dressed in a beaded red dress with feathers arranged in her hair were littered across the table.

"A fashionable era, I guess…" Caroline muttered as she looked over the artefacts, even though she said it to herself quietly Klaus obviously heard and chuckled at her words. The blond closed her eyes in annoyance, why did he always hear her even when she didn't want him to?

"You would have loved the 1920s, Caroline." She heard his silky smooth voice move closer towards her, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she felt the air shift behind her notifying her that he was moving closer. "Girls were reckless, fun…sexy." The words rolled off his tongue enveloped in his accent. "They used to dance until they dropped." He whispered into her ear, she could literally hear him smirking.

Klaus allowed his fingers to trace the side of her hip as he let the words wash over her but what he wasn't anticipating was the blond to swiftly turn whilst her golden curls whipped lightly across his cheek. He was met with a raised brow luscious pursed lips. Her eyes were ablaze with fire and curiosity making his fingers itch with the need to grab a pencil and any other material at hand to capture the fire within her.

"And how can you say that with such certainty, hmm?" She kept her unwavering gaze on him as she challenged him. His blue eyes widened causing Caroline to smirk internally realising she got one over him. He glanced at his feet before looking up with a cheeky smile that made his dimples appear.

"I admit love, you've got me," – _uhh why did this man have to have dimples-_ "I read it somewhere and I've always wanted to say it. Though the words shouldn't be lost on you, sweetheart, "- _when did he get so close?-"_ You'd look gorgeous wrapped in a scarlet dress with pearls adorning you neck and feathers in your curls." He gently curled a strand of her hair around his finger before setting it back over her shoulder, his fingers grazed her cheeks as he pulled his hand away- _He might as well be pulling the air from my lungs, damn him!_ \- lowering it to his side.

Caroline was speechless, partly by his proximity and partly by his god damn sexy words. Why did everything that came out of his mouth sound like it belonged in heaven? Caroline took in a shallow breath trying to block her mind from his effect, thankfully it worked long enough for her to realise something.

Glancing over his shoulder she saw a portrait of a man sitting on a chair, the chair that was in this very same room. Her eyes ran over the details of the picture. "It's all the same." She said quietly breaking the spell Klaus had set over them. The latter followed her eyes looking over his shoulder to the portrait she was watching. "Every detail of that painting is the same as this room. But the placing doesn't match." She sidestepped Klaus who gritted his teeth, he was so _close_ and yet so far. "Maybe it's part of the game?" She stopped in front of the portrait her eyes picking up the faint name beneath the picture. _Malakai._

Taking in a deep breath to compose himself, Klaus turned towards the blond and set his mind on the case. "If it is, what's the next step of the puzzle?"

"Well…everything in this painting is in this room," she bit her lip, "maybe we're supposed to put it all back together like the way it is in the painting?" Seeing the incredulous look on Klaus face Caroline put her hand on her hip as she tilted her head. "What? Have you got a better idea, don't hold back Klaus, feel free to share with the rest of the class."

"Look, if I wanted to rearrange rooms I would have become a furnisher, this is not what I sighed up for when starting this job."

"Well I'm sure Atticus Shane didn't sign up to be murdered when he stepped through the door. Now, have you got a better idea? Yes or no." Klaus scowled as Caroline nodded. "Right, well, let's get to it." Caroline took a deep breath as she walked towards the mantelpiece and grabbed two candlesticks before crossing the room and setting them on the piano like they were in the painting. She stood back admiring the small accomplishment before setting to work again this time being joined by Klaus who helped her.

 _ **20 minutes later…**_

"Everything's the way it's supposed to be." Caroline stated as they both stood at the foot of the chair and looked between the portrait and room.

"Maybe we missed something." Klaus said as he looked around but found nothing out of place from the picture. "There's got to be something else or we just wasted our time." He stared intently at the portrait when realisation hit him. "There's only one thing missing." He told Caroline who looked at him wondering what it was. She watched as he moved closer to the chair and turned locking his eyes onto Caroline as he sat down crossing his legs just like Parker had in the portrait.

They both gasped as a clink was heard and the rattle of a chain sounded, part of a wall the same size as a door opened beside them, they shared a triumphant look as Klaus got up but the expressions faltered as a pungent aroma filled the air. The stench of burnt copper mixed with the muskiness of wood crawled up their noses.

"Burnt flesh…" Caroline whispered, Klaus moved quickly towards the blond as she walked towards the opening. He grasped her wrist and pulled her back behind him. "Hey!" She hissed as he kept her behind him whilst he edged closer towards the opening, she saw his eyes widen, "What is it?" She asked with a hint of worry before she edged past him and her eyes fell on the same sight Klaus was observing. "Oh my God…" she covered her mouth and nose with the sleeve of her jacket whilst Klaus mimicked the move making sure his airway was covered as they both moved further into the opening which was a small cubicle like room. The walls were a metallic silver with no other openings except for a copper vent near the top of one of the walls.

Klaus and Caroline kept their eyes on the body laying at their feet, the corpse was placed in the foetal position but their head was slightly raised. Klaus raised his torch shining it on the dead person's face as they both looked on in dismay of seeing the burnt flesh covering its features. The skin had begun to peel whilst white liquid lay at its mouth.

"Could this be Marcellus Gerard?" Caroline asked as she looked at Klaus.

"If it isn't…then we've entered a whole 'nother game indeed…"

* * *

 _ **45 minutes later…**_

Clicks echoed against the metal walls as Caroline photographed the body as Klaus watched over her whilst Matt entered the room with raised brows. "What is this place?" He asked shining his torch along the metal walls.

"Whatever it is, it burned the victim alive." Klaus replied as he ran his gloved fingers along the corner of the far wall.

"Marcellus Gerard?" Matt asked as he placed his evidence box down and eyed the corpse.

"Well, it's hard to confirm without an autopsy but according to his driver's licence Gerard is an African-American male." Caroline said as she set her camera aside.

"Vic's burned to the core, I'm thinking…300 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit minimum, "Caroline shook her head, "he died from a pulmonary oedema," Matt continued as he spotted the white liquid laying at the corpse's lips, "yeah, his lungs filled with fluid. He drowned before he burned."

Caroline stood from her crouched position as she eyed the victim, "How did he get in here without playing musical furniture? We had to rearrange that entire room before the door opened." Klaus pressed his hand against one of the metal walls.

"There's got to be more than one way in." He said earning a nod from Caroline who used her torch to light up the metal walls looking for any signs of another entrance whilst Matt pressed his fingers against the wall trying to find an entrance by chance. Klaus did the same as Caroline, his curiosity piqued as his torch lit up a small cubby hole in which an antique telephone was attached with the receiver lying on the ground. He pressed his hand against the wall as he leaned closer to the telephone trying to find any sign of evidence that could point them closer to the answer. He froze as he felt a ridge under the palm of his hand, pulling it away slowly he saw a tiny crack in the wall which ran vertically down the metal.

Caroline watched Klaus as he grabbed a lever from his kit and proceeded to wedge it into the crack, as he put pressure on the handle and forced the crack apart, he pushed harder and half of the wall gave way to slide aside and opening a path. Caroline immediately stepped round the dead body and moved towards the path, she let out a disbelieving scoff as they stepped through and emerged into the utility room that had magically appeared out of thin air (going by Stefan's opinion) and been explored thoroughly.

"Stef and I were in here right at the start only we came through that," she pointed at the magically opening that Stefan had told them about, "door instead."

"Well that's how the victim got in," he looked back at the exit they had just taken, "but why couldn't he get out?"

"He was trapped, there was no way to escape." Caroline replied pitying the man who had died within those four small walls. She looked towards the wall that was directly behind the tiny room they had found the body in. It had a fireplace inserted which seemed to be the main feature of the room, shining her torch on it she looked down to see pipes running from the fireplace back into the wall. "It runs off gas," she moved swiftly back into the tiny room where Matt had begun processing the body, "and _this,"_ she shone the light to the wall which seemed to be a coppery brown instead of metal like the others, "is our heat source from the fireplace in the utility room." She moved the light up catching sight of the vent that had been placed at the top of the copper wall.

Caroline squinted at the vent, something just didn't simply sit right with her and glancing at Klaus she could see he felt the same way. "Somethings wrong here."

"Apart from the corpse?" The blond rolled her eyes at Matt who quickly went back to collecting evidence.

"Yes, _apart_ from the corpse." She focused on the vent, "Parker was a meticulous planner it's clear to see from the way he designed the place. Surely even he would know the basic principles of science." She gestured towards the vent.

"Heat rises." The blond nodded at his words, "If he was using forced air he'd put that vent closer to the floor."

"Exactly. So there's got to be something else that we're not seeing." Caroline swiped at her dry lips as she tried to think through the puzzle logically. Meanwhile, Klaus grabbed the material analyser Matt had brought with him. Pursing his lips he aimed the analyser at the metal wall besides the opening they had found, it beeped and noted the material before the blonde did the same to the other sides and the copper coloured panel. He grinned to himself as he looked at the results.

"Care to share?" Caroline asked.

"I'm _always_ happy to share," he winked at her, "And since you asked so nicely, love, of course."- _Why did he always have to be such an ass…_

"' _Lena, you could have just told me that over the phone."_

" _Yeah, I know, but what I thought you'd find really interesting is the fact that she had sex within the hours before her death." Elena stated as she held a microscopic slide to the light._

" _Sex?" Caroline asked._

" _I'll explain how that works late." Klaus murmured at her earning a glare from the blond. Elena rolled her eyes at both of their antics but put focused back on her findings._

" _Might even have been a few minutes of the murder." Caroline nodded but shrugged her shoulders._

" _So what's the evidence of sex?"_

" _Traces of spermicide," Caroline furrowed her brow as Elena sighed, "The guy wore a condom."_

" _Wow, it has been a long time for you hasn't it?" Klaus asked teasing her as Caroline took a deep breath and counted to ten in her head. There was no way she would let her annoyance get the better of her- "Don't worry love, I may just allow you a sample of me to tide you over for a bit." – She was seriously going to kill him._

Klaus tapped the metal walls, "These sidewalls are made of a lead-steel alloy-"

"They keep the heat in." Klaus smirked knowing she had caught onto his train of thought.

"This middle panel," he gestured towards the copper coloured side, "is copper. A heat conductor."

"Parker's intent was to cook his victims to death." Caroline realised, her eyes fell to the body at her feet.

Matt took a scalpel and carefully sliced the skin off the fingertip from the man's index finger, he gently placed it on his handheld fingerprint machine to be scanned into the system.

 _ **The Lab…**_

Kol dragged the scanned fingerprint from Matt's scan against the fingerprint of Gerard which they already had on the system.

 _Confirmed Match_

"I guess they found you, Gerard." Kol murmured to himself before comparing another print lifted from crime scene to Gerard.

 _No Match_

"Woah, woah, woah…what?" Kol re-ran it but it there was no match between them.

 _Well, shit._

* * *

Klaus and Caroline made their way through the lobby following the trolley carrying Gerard's body. "How about a coffee, love?"

"At 4 in the afternoon?" She asked raising her brow as he grinned.

"Well you never know when you'll have to stay up for a while." He said giving her a dirty smirk, she suppressed the tightening in her stomach and instead forced herself to roll her eyes.

"Guys, guys, wait." They both looked towards the brunette jogging towards them.

"Kol, what are you doing here?" Caroline asked him as he came to a standstill in front of them.

"I don't think we're finished here." Klaus rolled his eyes.

"We found Gerard, brother-"Kol cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah I know. But I think someone else is trapped up there." Caroline sighed.

"Ok, this better be good Kol."

"Would it be anything but?"

"Kol." The brunette raised his hands in surrender.

"Gerard's fingerprints didn't match the prints we picked up on the static lift when we first entered the house."

"It could be another person living here." Klaus suggested but Kol shook his head removing that theory.

"Yeah, I already thought of that, I compared the prints to everyone in the building but there weren't any matches. Then I thought about Gerard, I checked his phone records and it turns out he called his own house _before_ he called 911. Check it out:" He played an audio recording from his PDA.

" _Honey you've got to help me, I'm trapped, I can't get out. You've got to get here as soon as you can or I'm not going to make it."_

Kol stopped the recording and spoke instead, "Alright, he lives with his adoptive daughter Davina Campbell, we tried tracking her down but she hasn't shown up for college classes or work, she's missed her lunch and two other meetings."

"You're thinking she responded to his call for help."

"There's no evidence suggesting she's up there." Klaus said stating the obvious, if this was another one of Kol's pranks he was definitely going to burn all his baseball bats for wasting his time. His train of thought was broken when his phone rang.

"Hello."

" _Niklaus, do you recall seeing any water leakage at the penthouse."_ Klaus' brow furrowed at the unusual question.

"No, Elijah, why?"

" _I'm here with a downstairs tenant who's complaining about a water leak which is coming from above her."_

"A leak?" Both Kol and Caroline turned to him, "Water's been shut off in that penthouse for years."

" _Huh? Alright, Niklaus, I'll look into it."_

Klaus lowered his phone re-running the conversation in his head, "Wait…" he murmured to himself as he looked down the lobby towards the elevator they had just exited from then back to his phone.

"Nik?"

"Death by knife, death by fire…" he looked up meeting Caroline's eyes, "Davina Campbell is up there…and she's drowning…"

* * *

" _Ok, I'm sending you the blueprints over now, these are of the apartment you guys are in right beneath the penthouse."_

"Got 'em, thanks mate." Kol spoke as he looked at them and back to the damp ceiling corner where drops of water were originating from.

"Water from a place of no water," Stefan said as he stared at the liquid which continued to fall to the ground, "I'm no plumber but is that even possible?"

" _Well, according to the original blueprints, there's no plumbing on that side of the building."_ Kol nodded following Damon's words whilst he grabbed a petri dish form his kit and moved closer to the water droplets.

"Maybe the chemical breakdown of the water could help us locate the source," The brunette Mikaelson held the petri dish closer to the ceiling catching a few droplets before he pulled the dish away and placed them under an analyser, Stefan shifted coming to stand beside Kol as the chemicals came up on the little screen.

"Anything?"

Kol sighed and shook his head slightly, "Oxygen peak looks _extremely_ low," he glanced back to the damp, "it's like the sample hasn't been exposed to the atmosphere in a very long time."

"How long we talking?"

"I don't really kno-"

" _Being a geology major and doing a whole load of field study work, Oxygen depleted water is most likely from an aquafarm. I've studied some that haven't been touched since the 90's."_ Kol's lips spread into a grin as he heard his beautiful damsel's voice.

"Bon, Bon, nice of you to finally join us darling." He smirked wider when he heard her exasperated sigh over the phone.

" _One, don't call me Bon-Bon and two, wipe that grin off your face, Mikaelson."_

"Or what?"

" _Or I might just slap it off you instead."_

"I'd be opposed to that if it didn't mean you'd be coming down here to see me. You know I would never miss a chance to-"Stefan pinched the top of his nose as he heard Kol.

"Knock it off, Kol, we're on a case. Both of you just quit with the flirting."

" _I'm not flirting-"_

" _Step aside, witchy."_ Kol and Stefan shared a look as they heard a quiet tussle in the background before Bonnie cleared her throat.

" _As I was saying, the only explanation is that the penthouse above you where the leak is coming from must have its own water supply. Something like a-"_

"Tank." Kol completed as Stefan furrowed his brow.

" _Yeah."_

"Whatever it is, its above us right now…" Both brunettes looked up at the never ending droplets that continued to fall…

* * *

"Nothing." Klaus said in an exasperated tone as he spun round in a circle. "There isn't a drop of water in this room let alone enough to cause a leak downstairs."

"Maybe you're not looking hard enough." The blonde replied as she leaned over the bed looking underneath it, Klaus tilted his head as his eyes caught sight of Caroline's round behind, his fingers itched to trace the curves that her body made. "Stop checking out my ass, pervert." Caroline hissed as she flipped back upright and glared at him.

"I can't help it if you keep displaying, sweetheart. I'm an admirer of art." She rolled her eyes accompanying the gesture with a scoff.

"That is the worst pick up line I have ever heard. And I've heard quite a few." Klaus couldn't help but narrow his eyes wondering where and how many lines she heard.

"A few, huh?" He asked walking around the four poster bed to her side as she hopped off the cushiony mattress. She didn't give him a reply but instead flashed him a sultry look.

"What?" She shrugged her shoulders giving him an innocent smile before she turned away and continued to search the room for clues.

"Minx." He whispered under his breath but she heard it nonetheless, the smirk across her lips clearing showing it. He moved towards the chest of drawers he spotted. "Ok, I can't see anything that could be part of this game. There's no rearranging or puzzles to complete." Klaus pulled out the drawers from the chest but the movements didn't cause any new discoveries so he pushed them back in.

Caroline flipped her hair over her shoulder but quickly stilled as she saw the chandelier her strands could have been caught on. "Odd." She stated as she looked towards the door. " _Very_ odd." She walked towards the doorframe and tilted her head.

"What's wrong, love?"

"This." She gestured from the chandelier to the frame of the door, his brow peaked in curiosity as he failed to lock onto her thoughts, "Maybe we should be focusing on what we don't see," she sighed before tapping at the frame and pointing towards the small plain white, rectangular panel next to the frame. "Light switches. There's a big giant chandelier in the middle of this tiny room but there isn't a _light switch_ to turn it on."

"Another piece of the puzzle." Caroline scratched lightly at the white panel before looking at Klaus who glanced at the chandelier, he saw Caroline look over his head and followed her gaze before raising his brow, "That's an odd size and place for the only window in the room, don't you think, sweetheart?" Klaus murmured as he moved back towards the chest of drawers above which a silhouette of a hexagonal window was outlined behind a drawn down blind.

"We need a ladder." Caroline quickly said before Klaus halted her attempts to call down help.

"Parker wouldn't have had a ladder." He looked down from the window, his eyes fell back onto the chest of drawers. He moved closer and pulled the bottom one out slightly followed by the one on top, the small wooden arm rest on each step seemed to act like-

"A step." Caroline pointed out as she watched Klaus align the next drawer. "Who needs a ladder when you've got stairs?" She quickly removed the items on top of the chest and helped Klaus pull out the drawers until they fully aligned as steps. Glancing at Caroline, the dimpled Mikaelson cautiously stepped on the first step letting the dull creak resounding from the wood settle in the room. He took another step hesitantly before releasing a breath and continuing to climb to the top as Caroline moved back to observe the scene.

Klaus pinched the cord of the shade between his thumb and finger, he scanned the room before his eyes settled back on Caroline who gave him a slight nod. The anticipation buzzed through both of them as Klaus slowly pulled the cord bringing the shade down slightly, he released it allowing it to snap to the top revealing the small hexagonal window.

"Nothing." Caroline whispered in a defeat as she failed to spot any changes in the room.

"Well that was anti-climatic." Klaus murmured as he glanced up at the window with a glare, his eyes turned back to scan the room but nothing had changed. Not a single thing.

"It's got to mean something," she gestured towards the window, "It's got to be all about the widow, the steps lead right up to it as does the missing light switch."

Klaus nodded in agreement, _Caroline is right, it definitely has to be something about the window._ His eyes led him to the chandelier hanging motionlessly in the middle of the room then to the absence of the light switch until he looked up at the window. "That skyscraper wouldn't have been there when Parker designed this place." He murmured yet it was loud enough for Caroline to hear.

"It's blocking the Sun." Caroline replied as she tilted her head. Klaus grinned as the puzzle began falling back into place.

"Then we move the Sun…"

* * *

"Here we go…" Kol murmured as he switched on the specialized light which was directed towards the chandelier. "Well?" He asked as Stefan, Caroline and Klaus looked at the chandelier which now had light shining through the glass pieces.

Klaus and Caroline moved closer towards the Chandelier, their eyes fell on one of the small diamond shaped glass piece hanging standing out from the rest as the sun-mimicking-light passed through it.

"The color of that light look familiar to you?" Caroline said keeping her eyes on the aforementioned piece which became outlined in violet as the rays bounced off it.

"Huh." Stefan hummed as he spotted it, "That looks like that light you guy use." He murmured having no idea what it actually meant, Kol rolled his eyes at the brunette's simple statement before he looked at Klaus.

"Parker turned the chandelier into a primitive UV light." Klaus said before he was interrupted by the younger blond.

"There's something written on the wall." Caroline pointed out, the faded murky green wallpaper was marred in a ghostly purple writing, shadows of the crystal spinning moved across them but the writing still remained. "I search my face for a four-part song…" she lightly traced the next words with her finger, "…my heart keeps pace eight days long."

They all looked at the writing trying to figure out what it could possibly mean, "Should we look in the mirror?" Stefan suggested as he looked at the two detectives in the room before Kol jumped down from the step-ladder he had used to arrange the specialized lighting, he moved towards the bed and tapped the bedpost.

"A four-part song could be referencing the four bedposts." Both Klaus and Caroline shook their heads.

"It's a riddle, a face for a four part song and a heart that only beats for eight days." Klaus' voice trailed off as he saw Caroline determinedly move out of the room back into the main room they had previously been in.

"It's not literal. The heart doesn't _beat_ for eight days, Klaus." She rounded the corner, her lips turned up into a smirk as she observed the sight before her, the others followed closely wondering what she was doing. "It's a clock." She stated proudly before moving closer, "The riddle's about a grandfather clock."

"How?" Kol asked, his confused expression similar to the others.

"Eight days long. That's the length of time some grandfather clocks run before needing to restart." She gestured towards the ticking hands, "It's hands search it's face." She tapped the glass casing pointing towards the number 3, "It finds it's song on the quarter hour when it chimes." She then proceeded to open the little door at the front of the wooden clock, "That's a four part song, and its heart is the pendulum that keeps pace."

"Ok…now what?" She picked up a tiny key sitting under the pendulum and placed it into the middle of the clock face before winding it up. The hands moved round coming to stop on the number 12, she released her grip on the little object allowing it to begin ticking.

"We start time."

Almost immediately a loud whirring sound hit the room, they all looked around them trying to find where it originated. Caroline and Klaus' heads snapped up as a dull clunk echoed in the room before it crawled along the ceiling picking up pace as the now clunk-turned scratching moved back to the room they had just come from.

Caroline jumped into motion as Klaus determinedly strode past her following the scratches, "Can I just say, I'm not liking this at all. Mystery water coming from nowhere, a mummified body, loud creepy noises. Anyone else feel like they're in a horror movie?" Kol asked as he slowed to a halt following his brother's actions. The scratching grew louder until it turned into a deep rumble originating from behind the four poster bed.

"Um, is that _water?"_ Stefan asked incredulously as he pointed towards the huge waterfall painting hanging at the wall.

"Of course its water, it's a _waterfall!"_ Kol exclaimed before Klaus shushed him and all eyes turned to what Stefan had actually been referring to. The bottom corner of the painting had water droplets dripping off it, they watched fascinated as liquid began seeping from behind the painting coating the murky green wallpaper in an even darker colour.

Before anyone could react, the painting slid open allowing a rush of roaring water to burst through the opening behind the picture, the liquid pounded against the bed as it charged to the ground throwing itself around the floor.

"Shit." Klaus hissed as a large mass was thrown to the bed and forced onto the floor, they all rushed towards the brunette girl who gasped for air.

"Davina?" Caroline asked as she grabbed the girl's arm and dragged her out of the way of the flowing water, the girl continued to gasp but gave a nod nonetheless. "Get a paramedic." The blond exclaimed towards Stefan who was already racing towards the entrance to get help. "You're going to be find." Caroline reassured the girl as her body continued to shake from the cold.

"Ho-how did y-you f-find m-me?" She trembled, she sighed with a hint of relief as she felt Caroline's arms wrap around her trying to preserve some heat.

"Let's get you out of here first, Davina." Caroline murmured into her ear as Kol took off his jacket and wrapped it around the brunette girl that continued to shiver like a leaf.

"Thank y-you." Davina murmured before setting her face in Caroline's neck

"Shhh…" Caroline hummed as she rubbed her hands up and down, "You're going to be fine…"

* * *

"Good job," Alaric said with a hint of pride as he closed the case. "I'm impressed. You found the missing man and another victim of this _death house._ "

"All that's left is figuring out how Shane died all those years ago, we better get started if we-"

"Actually, you won't be working this case." Alaric suppressed the smirk that threatened to reveal itself as he looked at Klaus and Caroline. "Both your holiday forms have been approved so I guess all there is to tell you is to enjoy your week off." He shrugged sliding the folder to the edge of his desk. "Mikaelson, where are you going?" Klaus instantly replied.

"Flying back to England, I haven't seen my youngest brother in a few weeks." Alaric nodded before he looked at Caroline who gave him a tight smile.

"And you Forbes?"

"Gonna' go visit my dad, it's been a while."

"Well, you're both off duty from the moment you step out of the precinct so enjoy, I'll see you both in a week detectives." Caroline and Klaus nodded before leaving the office.

They walked towards their desks in silence to grab their bags before simultaneously moving towards the elevator which they entered together. Klaus pressed the button and the doors closed.

"Sweetheart?" He murmured softly as he stood motionless beside her.

"Hmm?" She hummed gripping the handle of her bag tightly, her skin burnt as she felt him move closer.

"I told you not to wear that thing when we're working." Caroline looked at him innocently as she bit her lip.

"What _thing?"_ He smirked tilting his head, his fingers ran up her back and stilled on her shoulder where he brushed her golden strands back, she saw his eyes dilate as they caught sight of a scarlet red strap peeking from beneath her shoulder.

"This little _daring ensemble."_ He whispered softly, his accent rolling around the words. He leaned down pressing a searing kiss against her shoulder before he moved along the column of her neck.

"We're not out of the precinct yet…" she whispered, her voice breathless as she lost herself in his touch, her bag slipped from her fingers as she reached up and curled them around his jacket.

"Hmm, well rules are meant to be broken, are they not, love?"

"Hmm," she lost all sense of reality as he wrapped his hands around her waist turning her to face him fully.

"It's been 6 hours since I've last had the chance to taste you, my love, don't punish a man any further…" he murmured brushing his nose along her jaw and peppering kisses against skin.

"I wouldn't dare, Nik…" she pulled his face up and pressed her lips against his momentarily before pulling away, "Do you think the others have realised yet?" Klaus grinned as he brushed a curl back behind her ear.

"I'm sure Alaric's suspicious, but the other…of course not, love." He pulled her tighter against him, "Now…just a little _taste…"_ he whispered against her lips, the light touches pleasantly burning both of them.

 _Ding!_

"Sorry, _love…_ " She murmured as she pulled away from him completely and grabbed her bag, a few seconds later the doors opened, "I guess you'll just have to wait to get home…I might even let you have a look at the full _ensemble…"_ she leaned closer, "but only if you're a good boy…" she winked at him before striding out of the elevator, Klaus grinned as he ran after her but still allowed himself to ogle her ass thoroughly. "Stop checking me out, Mikaelson." She reprimanded with a light hint of amusement.

"We both know you love it, sweetheart," he fell in step beside her, "we both know you'll love what I'll do to you once we get home even more…" they both shared a teasing smirk as they left the precinct side by side.

 **So...how was it?**

 **Sleep deprivation + work = Mistakes**

 **Sorry if there are any mistakes :)**

 **I've already got the next oneshot planned out in my head and I think it's going to be angsty so prepare yourself, or I might get too emotional whilst writing it and change the ending of it (Yeah, that's the over emotional kind of person I am, but I love it).**

 **Spoliers: Castle season 4 episode 23..."Four years, I've been right here..." wink wink.**

 **See you next time...**


	5. Chapter 5

**Any Castle fans will realise where this has come from, if you recognise anything it is not mine. It's from the amazing writers for Castle who I must say are epically fabulous.**

 **Don't worry for those of you who are anxious when angsty moments are present, there are none as angsty as I had first planned. There is a happy ending so don't worry.**

 **-Caroline is a detective who has been investigating her mother's murder for the past 4 years whilst Klaus is either a detective or a writer who has been shadowing Caroline (whichever you prefer, the latter option being the same as in the show), he finally lets her know why she hasn't discovered any new leads in over a year.**

 **I hope you enjoy and don't forget to tell me what you think :D**

"Good, you're here." Caroline said as she turned away from the blond and headed towards toward a large board that stood in front of the window blocking the light. "So, I figured out that the killer had a key chain which matched to 'East Wing Car rentals'. "

"That could be any one of a thousand cars." Caroline nodded pursing her lips but seemed optimistic nonetheless.

"I know, it's a needle in the haystack but at least we've got a haystack." She turned towards the board looking intently at it. "They keep most of their licences on file-"

"Caro-"

"-Yeah he's probably using a fake idea but we should be able to narrow it down from there-" Caroline flicked open the folder on the desk in front of the board as she spoke, her words were cut off as Klaus swallowed hard and called out her name.

"Caroline." Her eyes turned up to lock on his, his chest tightened as the weight of what he was about to say began crushing his chest.

"What's wrong?" She asked as she set her full focus on Klaus as he orientated himself to stand in front of the board.

"You, um…" he whispered hoarsely before clearing his throat and looking into her cornflower blue eyes, "You have to stop." She didn't move, "This investigation, y-you have to stop." Klaus didn't expect to see her lips turn up as she placed her hands on his arms squeezing them gently.

"Klaus, we've been through this already, I'm _fine."_ Klaus shook her head, "I'm in control."

"No, you're not" He took a deep breath in, " _they_ are." Caroline's eyes narrowed. "And if you don't stop, they will kill you Caroline."

"What are you talking about?" She asked, her hands slipped from his arms, Klaus couldn't help but yearn for her touch again.

A beat passed as Klaus parted his lips to speak but no voice came out. He had a chance, stop and pretend like he hadn't spoken at all or continued with what he was about to say.

He looked at Caroline, _really_ looked at the blond woman that stood before him and he wondered how she was ever going to forgive him for the secret he had kept from her. Would she walk away from him, arrest him… _kill_ him for all the times he had suppressed any information that could have helped her?

He watched as her blue eyes dilated in the dim lights, the way her golden blond hair fell around her shoulder, he could feel her rosemary breaths tickle at his chin as she breathed out evenly, the way her chest heaved and fell raising the scar that was tattooed in the middle of her chest from a long while ago…

" _Alaric Saltzman taught me what it meant to be a cop…" her blue eyes scanned the rows of graves that sat in the wide field of grass, "…he taught me that we are bound by our choices…" she looked at the blond woman that sat in the middle of the congregation, her tears marring her pale face. Jenna Saltzman. "…but we are more than our mistakes." She interlinked her fingers tightly behind her back forcing herself to remain composed even as she felt the anger and sadness begin bubbling up her throat. "Captain Saltzman taught me that there are no victories, only battles."_

 _Caroline looked down at the podium in front of her where her speech laid. Her eyes failed to find the words that came next as her eyes filled with water. Forcing her eyes back up to the audience she came to look at the American flag that rippled against the air. "And the best you can hope for…is to find a place you can make your stand."_

 _Klaus swallowed hearing her words, his mind became filled with images of Alaric being shot in the head, the blood spattering everywhere and the vomit that ros-_

 _He pushed it to the back of his mind as he focused on Caroline's determined voice. "And if you're very lucky…you'll find someone willing to stand with you…" Caroline couldn't help it, her eyes immediately sought out Klaus who stood a few metres away from her, and he caught her eyes. Neither broke the intimate connection until Caroline proceeded with her words. "Our Captain would want us to carry on with this fight."_

 _Klaus looked away from her and faced the congregation, his eyes narrowed as he caught a glimmer of bright light behind one of the gravestones in the distance before it disappeared. His brow furrowed as the point illuminated again, he looked at Caroline wondering if she saw it, he urged to gain her attention but before he could a shot rang out whizzing towards them._

" _Caroline!" The blond felt nothing for a moment. But then the searing pain radiated through her chest. She heard Klaus call out her name but couldn't find it in her to say a word. Her body hunched over for a few seconds as it absorbed the impact before her cap fell off her head and she was pushed back onto the cool grass._

 _Her eyes homed in on the blue sky above her which was littered with innocent white clouds before the sight was blocked and Klaus' face came into her view._

" _Caroline!" He shouted amongst the screams that echoed around her, she felt his fingers run into her hair pulling her head up slightly as his other hand held on to her waist._

 _Caroline gasped as she felt her throat burn, her lips parted but all that could be heard from them where the sharp inhales of air that failed to fill her lungs._

" _Shh…Caroline." Klaus whispered as he kept his eyes on her, his fingers found the soft skin of her cheek as he brushed away a tear Caroline hadn't even felt fall from her eye. "Stay with me, Caroline…don't leave me…please…" he pleaded in soft murmurs as Caroline's whole body trembled fighting for air. "Stay with me, ok?" She tried to nod as her wide eyes remained locked onto his. "Caroline…" he whispered, he saw her nod, "...I love you…I love you Caroline…" another tear slipped from her eyes, she gasped lightly whether it was from his words of the lack of air was unknown._

 _Klaus watched in anguish as her eyes rolled back and slid shut, her head became limp in his hand and her body sagged whilst red liquid seeped through her shirt and covered the white gloves that she had worn…_

Klaus knew he couldn't let her continue with his, he'd rather have her hate him for the rest of her life than to have her remain blissfully ignorant and dead.

"Before Saltzman went into that hangar, he sent a package to someone, someone he trusted." He released a deep breath as he continued whilst Caroline kept her eyes locked on his. "It contained information damaging to the person behind all of this," he saw Caroline tilt her head as she heard his words, "Saltzman was trying to protect you. But…" he shook his head slightly, "…the package didn't arrive until _after_ you'd been shot." He swiped at his dry lips, "Saltzman's friend struck a deal with them. If _they_ left you alone, the package and the information inside would never see the light of day." His voice caught in the back of his throat as he watched her take a step back, "But they made one condition…you _had_ to back-off." He released a slow breath as he finally bared the full truth to her. "And _that_ is the reason you're alive, Caroline, because you _stopped."_

A beat of silence passed as both blondes stared at each other, one in fear of the repercussions and the other in awe and disbelief.

"How do you know this?" Caroline allowed her voice to finally leave her lips. She saw Klaus' mouth open and close but no words came out. He closed his eyes for a moment recollecting his thoughts before he steeled himself and finally let her know.

"In order for the deal to work…someone had to make sure you weren't pursuing it."

"Are you part of this?" Caroline asked incredulously as she stepped back once more, whether it was in anger or fear was unknown to the dimpled man.

"I was just trying to keep you safe." He knew the moment the words left him that she wouldn't believe him even if it was the absolute truth. Caroline gasped in shock letting the words wash over her before she swiftly turned paced towards the other end of the room as she ran her fingers through her crumpled locks.

"By _lying_ to me about the most important thing in my life?" She exclaimed turning back to face him.

"That lie was the _only_ thing protecting you." He stated clearly earning a swift shake of the blonde's head.

"Klaus, I didn't need protection, I needed a _lead._ And you sat on it for a year." She said in disbelief as the reality of the situation settled in her. Swallowing back the anger and hurt she painted her features with steely determination. "Now, who is this person?" She demanded, "How do I find him?"

"He's a-a voice on the phone. A shadow in a parking garage." Caroline narrowed her eyes at him in anger.

"You _met_ with him?" She hissed, "How do you know he's not behind my mom's murder?" She stepped closer feeling the rage begin to solidify, "How do you know that he's not involved?" The air settled around them before she erupted with a few more words, "And how the _hell_ could you do this?"

Klaus looked at her in awe, _how did she not already know why he did this?_

"Because I love you!" He exclaimed, the anger fell from her features, "…But you already know that, don't you? You've known for a year…"

" _The bag wasn't mine."_

" _Oh, so you admit to having it?" Klaus watched fascinated behind the glass as Caroline walked around the frightened young brunette man._

" _No, no that's not what I said, you've got me goin-"_

" _Did you, or did you not have it?" She demanded. "It's a simple question." She perched against the metal table which sat in the middle of the interrogation room._

" _I don't know." He replied, the fear was evident on his face. Caroline watched him intently before she continued._

" _Who put you up to this Luka, who gave you that back-pack?"_

" _I do-don't know, I don't re-remember."_

" _You don't remember." She repeated not believing him even for a second. "How do you not remember?"_

" _I was in shock, the bomb went off, everyone was running and scream-"_

" _Oh!" Caroline exclaimed as she stood up, "Ok, ok, so you remember what happened after the bomb went off but not before."_

" _It must have been one of those traumatic amnesia thing-"_

" _Luka!" She stared at him, "Don't lie to me." The man shook his head adamantly as he began speaking._

" _I'm telling you, it was all a big blank. It was the trauma." Pressing her lips together the blond tried fighting off the annoyance._

" _It was not the trauma, you don't get to use that excuse."_

' _I swear I don't remember." Caroline narrowed her eyes as she slammed her palm against the table and leaned closer._

" _The hell you don't remember!" The floodgates opened as she let the past six months of aggravation out. "You wanna' know trauma, I was shot in the chest and I remember every second of it!"_

 _Klaus' head snapped up as he heard her words and realization dawned on him_

 _She remembered. And yet she had denied it when he had asked._

Caroline let out a breath, "Are you kidding me? You're actually bringing this up _now,_ after you told me that you betrayed me?"

Klaus tried to pacify her, he needed her to hear his side.

"Caroline, listen to me-"He started gently before he was cut off.

" _Listen to you?_ Why should I listen to you? _How_ am I supposed to trust anything that you say?!" She exclaimed.

Klaus' jaw dropped in shock, "How are you su-Because of _everything_ that we have been through together!" He shouted, his voice echoed in the room, " _Four years_ , I've been right here! Four years just _waiting_ for you to just open your eyes and see that I am right _here._ And that I'm more than a partner." He moved closer towards her, "Every morning, I-I bring you a cup of coffee just so that I can see a smile on your face, " he continued to stride towards her as she remained frozen on the spot, he clutched her arms in his squeezing them gently as he spoke, "Because I think that you are the most…" his hands trailed up her shoulders along her neck to her cheeks which he cupped gently as he looked intently at her, "…remarkable…maddening…challenging…frustrating person I have _ever_ met," He brushed his thumbs along the apples of her cheeks as his eyes brimmed with tears at his own need and frustration for her not seeing what was right in front of her. "And I love you Caroline, and if that means _anything_ to you," he observed her emotionless features, "If you care about me at all…just…don't do this."

Klaus breathed a sigh of relief as Caroline's hands covered his own. "If I care about you?" She whispered, "Klaus, you cut a deal for my life like I was some kind of child. _My_ life. _Mine._ " She pushed his hands away from her face, "You don't get to decide."

Klaus refused to allow Caroline to push him away, he gripped her cheeks tighter as he stepped closer, his added height allowing him to tower over her slightly as she wasn't wearing her usual heels. "You keep going with this and they're gonna decide. They're gonna come for you, Caroline."

The blond pushed his hands away this time succeeding as they fell to his sides. "Let the come! They sent Lockwood and he's dead. They sent Parker and he's dead. And I am still _here,_ Klaus. And I am ready." She stated in finality. Klaus looked at her with a hint of confusion.

"Ready for what, to die for your cause?" She pressed her lips together and walked past him back towards the murder board. "This isn't a murder investigation anymore, Caroline. They've turned it into a _war._ " He gritted his teeth, _why wouldn't she just listen to him?_

"If they want a war, then I will bring them a war. Straight to their doorstep." She got her gun from the drawer and loaded it before setting it aside in front of the murder board. She looked at it intently before turning towards Klaus who ambled towards her.

He watched as her eyes were glazed over in determination and the one thing he knew about Caroline Forbes was that when she set her mind on something no one, not even him, could change it.

"Well, I guess there's just nothing I can say is there?" He murmured, Caroline stared at him blankly as he came to stand only a few feet away from her. "OK…yeah…you're right Caroline." He itched to brush his fingers through her soft blond hair, "It's your life." He swallowed hard as he said his peace, "You can throw it away if you want to…" he looked at the murder board, all the time and effort she had put into figuring it out whilst Klaus had done the complete opposite and tried to prevent her from finding out the truth, "…but I'm not gonna stick around to watch you."

They watched each other in silence for a moment both knowing the words that were to come.

"This is it." Klaus whispered. "I'm done." He scanned her face committing her features to his memory so that he could etch them onto paper. "I'm done…" he repeated in a mere whisper as Caroline's eyes widened.

Klaus slowly intertwined his fingers with hers before leaning in to press his lips against her forehead, he pulled away put rested his nose against her skin wishing that this wasn't it. That she would say something-anything-that would stop him from walking away. "I hope you find everything you've been looking for, sweetheart…" he murmured, his lips brushed against her skin causing a shiver to run down Caroline's back.

She swallowed at the feeling that enveloped her but was quickly replaced with coldness as Klaus pulled his fingers away from hers. Klaus glanced at her face once more to see her eyes tightly shut, he stepped back losing all contact from her even though his body ached to grasp her against him. "Goodbye, Caroline."

Caroline felt the water glaze over her eyes even though they were shut, she knew the moment she opened them the anguish would be seen. She heard the click of the door and waited for a few moments hoping that Klaus was still stood in front of her.

She opened her eyes and was met with the daily surroundings of her apartment.

He was gone…

* * *

 _ **A few hours later…**_

"Help!" Caroline screamed as she gripped the ledge tightly but could feel the grains of stone slip under fingers. "Come on." She strained as she tried to catch her feet on something to boost her way up but she was met with nothing but the smooth bricks. "Come on, come on." She hissed as she tried to keep hold, "No." She grunted as her fingers began slipping.

The blond dared to glance down and felt the full effect of the height, "No!" she screamed as her hand lost its grip and all she was left hanging from was the last effort of her left fingers that tried to grip the ledge for as long as they could. "No…" she murmured as she watched her fingers lose their strength and begin to slide. "Klaus…" she whispered hoping that he'd be there to save her like he usually was. She could hear the blood rush through her ears as she began to lose faith.

"Caroline!" She heard Klaus' voice echo, her eyes widened as she tightened her hold on the ledge.

"Klaus!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, "Klaus I'm right here!" She shouted as her fingers continued to slip. "Klaus!" She screamed out as her fingers finally lost their resolve and glided off the ledge. "Klaus!" She shouted as she felt gravity begin to pull her down.

A hand grabbed her wrist stopping her descent and instead pulling her back up.

She gasped a mouthful of air as she was hauled back to the top and looked up expecting to see Klaus but instead saw Stefan's eyes staring back at her, "Klaus?" She whispered earning a shake of the brunette's head. She let out a shaky breath as she gripped Stefan's arms whilst he led her away from the ledge.

"What were you thinking, Forbes?" He murmured into her ear.

Caroline squeezed her eyes shut as drops of water began to fall over them, "I wasn't…" she whispered releasing a deep breath…

* * *

Klaus gulped down his second glass of bourbon as he looked at the blank page of his sketch book, his fingers itched to draw countless images of Caroline's face but he…just couldn't. Not if he was determined to forget about her.

He placed his empty glass on the side of his desk as he flicked through his sketchbook and eyed the fireplace, he licked his dry lips as he contemplated throwing the memories into the fire and letting them burn away. He set the book aside when he heard a knock on the door.

 _Damn him if this was Rebekah coming to pester him about some crisis or another…_

He walked towards the door expecting to see anyone's face except for hers.

"Caroline." He breathed out, his eyes roamed over her, she stood dripping from the rain at his doorstep. "What do you want?" He asked keeping his guard.

Caroline sighed as she let the walls around her drop finding it pointless to even try and pretend like she was here for something other than him.

"What do you want, Caroline?" He repeated holding the door open.

"You." She whispered before stepping forth and grasping his stubble covered cheeks in her hands tilting his face down as she caught his raspberry lips with hers. The air around them sizzled as Klaus' disbelief lifted and he set his hands on her hips not pushing her away yet not pulling her closer. The younger blond pressed herself closer to his body as she tilted her face wanting to feel more but was suddenly stopped when Klaus pushed her back.

"Why?" He asked needing to know what had finally made her choose him. She gently scratched at his stubble.

"I almost died…and all I could think about was you…" A beat of passed filled with nothing but the harsh rainfall against the windows. He looked into her eyes searching for a hint of doubt but found none. He grasped her hips tighter as Caroline leaned closer to him parting her lips but being just out of reach as Klaus kept his lips from hers. Caroline looked up at him, lighting struck flashing across his face and the next thing she knew she was pushed against the cool wooden door as Klaus pressed his body against hers with his lips slanting over hers, they both fought for dominance as Klaus' hands brushed back her jacket whilst Caroline unbuttoned his shirt sliding if off his shoulders. Klaus pulled back as he unbuttoned her shirt, Caroline looked at him curiously as he stilled, his fingers slid up her body before they brushed over the scar that rested in the middle of her chest. The younger blond shivered, Klaus met her eyes seeing the unbridled emotion swimming in her eyes. He leaned down as he let his lips glide from her collarbone down to the scar where he pressed tiny butterfly kisses along the mark.

He skimmed his way back up to her face where he pressed the pads of his fingers along her cheeks as he kissed her lips once more and stepped back entwining his fingers with hers and pulling her towards him as he moved back towards the bedroom.

She followed letting her shirt slip down and land on the floor, he slowly twirled her round to lead the way instead as he followed her.

Finally reaching the bedroom, Caroline pulled him towards her kissing him languidly as Klaus let the door shut behind them allowing them to finally explore each other's bodies like they had wanted for an eternity…

 **So…how was it?**

 **If anyone has any prompts or ideas for any future oneshots/drabbles drop me a PM or suggest it in a review. Unfortunately I don't have a Tumblr account or anything like that since I know I wouldn't be able to keep up with it especially when I'm at school, thankfully I've got a week long holiday in which I have to revise for mock exams but Klaroline will always be up there as one of my main priorities.**

 **BTW, shameless plug, I'll be updating Ray of Sun after this and also uploading the first chapter of my new story Life Worth Living. I'm hoping to update End Like No Other and A New Era tomorrow so look out for that as well. With all this free time inspiration has finally hit me and I'm on a roll even if I do say so myself… :)**

 **See you next time…:D**


	6. Chapter 6

**It's definitely been a while, AN at the bottom to explain, I'll let you get on with this chapter.**

 **Hope you enjoy :D**

 _He stood tall. Once. Yet once was enough to build a city as mighty as this. Until he had to run, until he was driven out of his kingdom to let it crumble to the ground. But it was rebuilt by another._

 _And look at him now…a stranger in his home, the one who they all whisper about but don't know._

 _How sad, how unwelcoming, how weak._

 _Oh, how far the mighty have fallen…_

Klaus made his way down Boulevard Street letting the sizzling air fill his lungs even though he didn't need to breathe, his eyes roamed over the scene, people passing him by from every direction as he stilled in the middle taking in the feeling of standing on the pebbled street. His lips curved up into a smile as he felt the electrifying air that washed over his body welcoming in into the city. _His_ city.

"It's changed…" He didn't spare a glance to his sister who stood beside him looking over the street as he did, a sorrowful tone seeped into her voice but he refused to offer any words to comfort her. He continued his walk at a slow pace as he took in the sights, a shiver ran down his back as he heard the smooth melodic sound of a saxophone which rang in his ears. "Nik?" He ignored her and continued passing the saxophone player and continuing on towards the centre of town. "I missed it."

"As did I." He murmured under his breath only allowing Rebekah to hear his words, until another Mikaelson joined them.

"I must agree with you both. New Orleans has flourished." Elijah said as he walked beside his siblings taking in the array of music, culture and beauty. "Niklaus, where are you going?" Klaus smirked as he ignored his older brother as he scanned the area once again allowing his eyes to fall on a quaint little bar which seemed to be bursting with life and death simultaneously.

His legs carried him towards the glass doors as his siblings followed him to the building, the tenor voice of a man singing encompassed them as Klaus pushed the door open to be hit by a warm bourbon and scotch scent. His blue orbs rose to the grinning dark skinned man on the stage who had just finished and skipped off the stage to be handed a glass of scotch as he laughed at something the men he stood next to had said. The man placed the empty glass back on the bar after having knocked it back and then stilled feeling a sense of uneasiness suddenly overwhelm the atmosphere. The previously booming bar quieted down quickly as they noticed him freeze. He looked up to his side to see the blonde haired newcomer watching him across the room.

"Marcel?" He heard Thierry ask as the other noticed his body reaction, he ignored him and slowly moved towards the hybrid who was smirking at him.

"Klaus." Marcel's voice reverberated throughout the bar as he locked his eyes on the other.

"Marcel." Klaus said in an unwavering tone.

"Must be a hundred years since that nasty business with your papa" Marcel began walking towards him just as Klaus did the same.

"Has it been that long?" Klaus shrugged his shoulder carelessly as he kept his eyes on Marcel but was still able to acknowledge the silence which had descended upon everyone.

"The way I recall it, he ran you out of town. Left a trail of dead in his wake." He stopped as Klaus tilted his head.

"And yet how fortunate you managed to survive." Klaus' eyes turned cold as he continued to get closer. "My father, I'm afraid, I recently incinerated to dust." Once the words had left his mouth to be accompanied with a smirk, the people who were behind Marcel stood up suddenly and stepped forward but Klaus kept his eyes on Marcel who quirked up his eyebrow.

"Well, if I'd known you were coming back in town, if I had a head's up I-"

"What, Marcel?" Klaus' smooth voice interrupted him, "What would you have done?" Marcel clenched his jaw as Klaus stepped closer and narrowed his eyes.

With a stern expression Marcel said, "I'd have thrown you a damn parade." His mouth split into a giant grin to be mirrored by Klaus as they embraced each other chuckling. Marcel moved back and looked at him. "Niklaus Mikaelson, my mentor, my saviour, my sire." He stepped back and raised his arms. "Welcome to New Orleans." Klaus smirked as he breathed in the exhilarating air.

"It's good to be back…"

 **Several days later…**

Klaus raised his brow as he came to stand beside Marcel looking over the courtyard, his eyes scanned the crowd beneath him and couldn't help but wonder how the situation at hand was related to his quest.

"Are you ready for answers?" Klaus glanced at Marcel, "You'll get them before the sun sets." He stated before he gestured towards the doors which opened at once as a woman strode in, her blond curls held up into a ponytail as soft tendrils fell around her face framing her features and adding to the innocent vibe she gave off.

Klaus watched her curiously, she was dressed like a typical teenage girl, a sight that most definitely did _not_ belong in the middle of a dark courtyard filled with vampires and the original hybrid himself.

The girl's eyes scanned the crowd which was forming around her, looking up towards the balcony she spotted Marcel and the blond man next to him whose eyes locked onto hers.

"Caroline." Marcel's deep tenor voice rumbled throughout the building setting silence in place.

 _Caroline_.

The name seemed fitting for the girl. Klaus tilted his head watching her as she broke her eyes away from him to settle on Marcel instead as the dark-skinned man pushed himself away from the balcony and ambled down the steps moving closer towards the girl who hadn't uttered a word since she had arrived.

"It's been a while, Cherie, how have you been?" The blonde's eyes narrowed, her eyes jumped back towards the blond still watching from the balcony before she looked back towards Marcel who walked lazily through the parted crowd.

"I was doing well until your _lackeys_ disrupted my evening." Klaus' lips quirked up as he heard the blatant edge to her sweet melodic voice.

Marcel raised his hands in surrender, "My apologies, Caroline," he glance over her shoulder, his lips fell into a straight line, "Though I see they didn't accompany you back." She shrugged.

"Hmm, they must have gotten lost." Marcel's eyes hardened as he plastered a fake smirk across his lips. Klaus' amusement heightened, he could sense Marcel's anger. "I don't think they'll be turning up soon."

Whispers broke out just as Caroline's smirk did which she directed towards the _king_ of the Quarter. "Though they did mention you had a little proposition for me." She raised her perfectly curved brow.

Marcel let out an unnatural hearty chuckle, "You see my… _friend_ is looking for someone. A vampire. And you're just the girl for the job." Caroline's features remained impassive so he continued. "What's your price?"

Caroline blinked several times before reaching into her back pocket drawing out a small folded piece of paper which she handed to Marcel. Hesitatingly, he opened it up as his brow furrowed.

 _Lorenzo Augustine_

 _0624-052-471_

"I asked you for a price, what's this?" He asked with an unsure quirk to his lips.

"A man who might be interested in taking the job." She said keeping her face free from emotion. Marcel chuckled low as he wrapped his fingers around the paper crumpling it.

"My sources said you're the one for the job." Caroline shrugged her shoulders lazily.

"Well your sources got their facts wrong." Marcel stepped closer slowly resting his hand on her shoulder.

"My sources are never wrong and I never take no for an answer." He replied in a slightly sinister tone.

"There's a first time for everything." She answered, casually brushing his hand off. She stepped back turning towards the door before she stilled as those under Marcels' rule gathered near the door blocking it off from her.

"Not this time, Cherie." The girl turned slowly back to face Marcel who watched her carefully.

"You don't want to do this." She said as her scanned her surroundings. Marcel smiled.

"I don't think you're in a position to tell me what to do. Or what not to do." He moved closer into her personal space, his mere presence only a few inches from hers. "You have 10 seconds to change your mind." He said sinisterly once again setting his hand on her shoulder but this time pressing his thumb hard into the muscle between her shoulder blade and collar bone.

Caroline's features hardened, her eyes were set like orbs of ice in her sockets whilst her nude lips pressed into a thin line. Her orbs moved to the touch of his hand on her shoulder before she followed the limb back up to the body and face it belonged to.

"I'll give you five seconds to remove your hand." She said in a low gravelly tone.

A beat passed as they stared into each other's eyes.

Caroline's eyes darkened to azure blue, Marcel caught the flicker of a smirk cross her lips before he felt two hands push against his chest hard sending him flying into half the crowd that had surrounded them.

Klaus watched as she flew across the room taking every single vampire down, crushing their windpipes and ripping out their hearts. It was messy but oh so delectable. Blood spluttered everywhere as she continued to rip out body parts, she snapped necks with her bare hands until she was completely done.

They were dead.

 _All of them._

Caroline let out a deep breath as she let the final heart fall from her hands.

Caroline gasped sharply as an arm wrapped around her neck crushing her windpipe, she flailed trying to twist round before she spluttered when her back was ripped open and fingers slammed through her ribs coming to wrap themselves around her pumping heart.

The blonde's movements stilled immediately, Klaus tilted his head as he froze mimicking her, _had Marcel ripped her heart out already?_

The question was quickly answered as he saw her tilt her head back against his protégé's shoulder with a sinister smile.

"You know who I am…" she strained, her voice weak from the pressure on her vocal chords, "…you know _what_ I am…" a few drops of blood escaped from the corner of her lips as Marcel squeezed her mildly beating organ harder, "…are you really willing to risk it?" She breathed out in a small whisper knowing full well that he would never go through with the act knowing what he knew.

Grinding his teeth he slowly withdrew his fingers from her chest cavity whilst loosening the arm around her throat. The blonde's smirk slowly fell as she straightened up, she could feel her blood soaked shirt sticking to her back and couldn't help the level of annoyance that rose within her. "You just ruined my favourite shirt." She whispered mostly to herself before swiftly spinning on her heel and snapping Marcel's neck. "Idiot." She murmured.

Klaus leaned against the banister, he tilted his head running his eyes up and down her form.

 _You know what I am…are you really willing to risk it?_

The words resounded in his head, she appeared to be a vampire, the way her fangs had torn into necks resulting in missing chunks, the way her body had moved yet…it moved a little _too_ quick.

"I suppose you have no idea who I am." He was brought from his thoughts coming to meet the blue orbs watching him intently. She licked the pearls of blood lingering on her lips drawing Klaus' attention.

Caroline ran her eyes over his body… _hmm…not bad_. She couldn't help but admire the stubble peppered over his angled jaw, the way his cheeks seemed sharp enough to cut her hand, she spotted the smirk he was sporting yet picked up on the curiosity swimming in the depths of his eyes.

Fresh blood.

 _Yummy_.

Caroline's lips quirked as she felt the hunger growl within her chest, _now is not the time to snack-especially after the meal you feasted over with Marcel's minions._

 _Or should I say feasted_ on _Marcel's minions._

"Caroline." He stated, her name rolled off his tongue effortlessly wrapped in his delicious accent. "Quite the kill, sweetheart." He eyed the blood-soaked vampires on the concrete ground. "A dat-bit messy I must admit." He murmured teasingly as he watched her smirk.

"I see the city opened its doors to the riff-raff." He narrowed his eyes as he suppressed the chuckle threatening to spill from his lips. "Are you just going to stand there or tell me your name, pretty boy?" His brow quirked.

 _"Pretty boy?"_ Klaus echoed, he'd never once in his entire existence been referred to as that. She shrugged kneeling down beside Marcel lifting his hand as she slipped his daylight ring off his finger.

"Have you looked in the mirror?" She asked rhetorically as she rose, "Those cheeks are to die for." Caroline smiled with no obvious hidden intention. "But that _ego…_ " She murmured with distaste, Klaus couldn't help but chuckle.

"What of it, love?" He asked casually moving closer towards her sidestepping the collateral damage littered across the room.

"A little too big for you, pretty boy. I don't suppose you've got a twin who can't speak."

"No, sweetheart."

"Pity." She whispered running her eyes over his physique.

"Niklaus!" Klaus sighed, he hadn't even figured out what kind of creature this girl was, she had spat all over Marcel's rules and yet she was alive and well and the cherry to top that was Marcellus know lying at her feet with his neck snapped.

"What are you?" Klaus asked moving closer hoping she would provide him with an answer before Elijah saw the scene around him and falling into his self-righteous attitude once more.

"Wouldn't you love to know?" She murmured walking backwards towards the door sliding Marcel's ring on her thumb. "See you later, pretty boy." Caroline clicked her tongue with a wink and just as the doors were opened by Elijah who froze at the sight in front of him, Caroline flashed past him immediately disappearing.

Elijah looked over his shoulder before returning his gaze to the bloody floor then to his younger brother.

"Don't look at me like that brother, _this one_ was most definitely not down to me." Klaus smiled his dimples revealing himself whilst his mind was continually replaying what had just happened.

 _What the bloody hell was that woman?_

 **A few hours later…**

Marcel groaned as he sat on the steps in the courtyard, he lifted his hand examining his bare fingers. The absence of his daylight ring making his body tense up. No ring meant no outdoors which meant weakness, anyone could storm in and kick him to the kerb causing his body to burst into flames.

"Well?"

Marcel sighed running his hand down his face before he looked up at the glass of bourbon that Klaus held out for him to take. He grabbed it and threw it back relishing in the feel of the burning liquid rushing down his throat.

 _"Caroline. Care to tell me about our little killer?" He couldn't help but feel glee at Marcel's frustrated features, this girl most definitely pissed his protégé off._

 _"Caroline Forbes." The blond tilted his glass in his direction as he took the seat next to her in the dimly lit bar. "That's my name."_

 _"Marcel Gerard, lovely to meet you." He grinned as he watched her sip her drink._

 _"Ah yes, the king of the Quarter, right?" Marcel nodded._

 _"You're heard of me."_

 _"A little." She set her drink aside._

 _"I hope my reputation precedes me." He raised his own glass towards his lips._

 _"Maybe." He looked from his glass towards her face, her voice seemed on edge, he noticed her staring at his daylight ring. Marcel knew the piece seemed antique with its silver engravings and blue centre but he hadn't seen anyone who was as interested in the ring as her. He relaxed slightly when he noticed the little blue gem sitting on her ring finger mimicking his._

 _"I've never seen you here before, passing by or staying?" She drained the last of her glass as she stood up flashing him a wide grin._

 _"You'll have to wait and see." She said gliding her hand across his broad shoulders as she passed behind him. "It was nice to finally meet you Marcellus."_

 _Marcel's lips quirked, mysterious blond chick: he could totally dig that._

 _He sipped his drink as he turned his attention to the entertainment of the night, he stilled suddenly setting his now-empty glass down._

 _Marcellus?_

 _He'd never stated his full name._

"I'm sure she just heard your name from a passer-by." Klaus said not believing his own theory.

"Nah, man." Marcel said chuckling, "She'd heard of me before we met. In fact, she was born and raised here."

"And yet you'd never met her before?"

"I may be King but New Orleans is huge, it don't mean I've met every single soul in this city." Well, that's something Klaus could definitely exploit, the hybrid smirked thinking the exact same thing.

 _"We've got a problem." Thierry exclaimed as he strode into Marcels' office._

 _"Which is what exactly?" Marcel asked as he set his papers aside._

 _"Killings across the city. All vampires, all stakes to their hearts." Marcel sat upright._

 _"For how long?"_

 _"We don't know, bodies have been turning up over the past few weeks but we never connected the dots until this." He his phone across, Marcel furrowed his brow as he flicked through the phots, each of a dead greyed vampire with a stake sticking out of their chest. Thierry reached over enlarging the hand on one of the photos. "See that?" He gestured to the little black spiral like shape set on the wrist. He enlarged it further. "A witch's trident mark. They were all marked for death."_

"That girl was responsible for that, she's a witch and a vampire?" Marcel chuckled.

"Oh no…it's much worse than that."

* * *

Caroline slammed the book shut as she leaned back in her chair, her fingers tapped out a rhythmic beat on the hard green cover. She let her eyes glide shut allowing herself to become immersed in her surroundings.

It was quiet.

A _nice_ type of quiet.

The wistful sound of pages being sliced through the air lulled the blond into deep thought.

 _Two Originals, a vampire protege and the Original hybrid...sounds like the start of a really bad joke..._

Caroline smirked as the thougth passed trough her head, but the lilt to her lips faded as she felt a presence across the table.

"Can I help you?" She asked politely with her eyes still shut. She trusted her sense to disassemble the person and tell her who she was dealing with. So far she picked up the soft creak as the person leaned back in their chair, the gentle breaths that glided through the person's parted lips.

"Miss Forbes."

A deep, well-mannered voice. Old. Yet modern...respectful.

 _Original_.

Caroline's eyes slid open, her features remained expressionless as she took in the man's appearance. Brunette, suit and tie. Clean-shaven.

"Who's asking?" She retorted in a soft voice not moving an inch. The man's eeys bored into hers and vice-versa.

"Elijah Mikaelson."

"Oh, pretty boy's brother." She said watching the man carefully, his face remained without expression as he watched her.

"I prefer Elijah, Miss Forbes."

"Well, _Elijah,_ what do you want?" She leaned in setting her intertwined fingers on the table. The way he was looking at her freaked her out yet she did remained calm and collected. She'd met worse people before, this was nothin as of now.

"I'm looking for a woman." She raised her brow.

"Aren't most people?" He didn't react to her joke.

" _Katerina Petrova_." Elijah spoke softly. "Where would I find her?" Caroline shrugged.

"Try the cemetry, I hear she's been _lying-low_." Elijah blinked.

"She's dead." Caroline rolled her eyes.

"Oh don't be so literal about it, of course she's not dead." Caroline swiped her tongue over her lips, "The closest cemetry, I'm sure you'll find whatever you're looking for there." Elijah watched her for a moment, contemplating the information she provided.

"Thank you, Miss Forbes." He got up buttoning his suit jacket, he proceeded to step away from the table when he stopped and looked back at Caroline, "Though...if you are lying to me, Miss Forbes, I will not hesistate to take your heart from your chest."

Caroline couldn't help but giggle, "I'm sure you would just love to, but you should double check that move with Marcel. He knows a lot more than he lets on." Caroline leaned back in her chair flickering her eyes to the exit before opening the book that lay in front of her, "I'm sure you've got things to do, Mr Mikaelson, I won't keep you." She focused on the book intently reading the words that were printed on the page, she could feel his presence getting further away until he finally left the building without another word. "Silly man." She whispered to herself as she turned the page.

* * *

Elijah stood behind the gate, his eyes ran over the derelict graveyard whilst Klaus stood beside him itching to go in. There was someting off about this place and the desolation was not it.

"Caroline _told_ you that she'd be here?"

"Hmm." Elijah hummed in agreement, "She said the closest cemetry, Layfette is the _only_ cemetry within the French Quarter as I recall. Katerina is most certainly here."

Klaus nodded sharply before striding determindly into the cemetry pushing aside the wrought-iron gate. He felt his brother follow a few seconds after, both Mikaelsons made their way deeper into the cemetry passing the old grey stones and statues that marked the graves of the dead. "Where is she?" Klaus turned in a circle with outstretched arms giving his brother a fustrated look. "Well?"

Elijah glanced around not feeling another presence within in the cemetry. "It appears as if Miss Forbes lied."

" _Fantastic_." Klaus said sarcastically proceeding to walk back to the entrance when he suddenly felt an unbearable pressure cascade over him, his vision went blurry but he could make out a dark figure walking towards Elijah who had fallen to his knees in the dirt from the pain he felt as well.

"Enough!" He heard someone order, he tried to make out who the person that gave the order was but he couldn't, his head felt too heavy causing his body to collapse. He tried to keep his eyes open but it was inevitable for him to fall into a dark abyss just as Elijah did the same.

* * *

"Hello pretty boy." His eyes flickered open to meet lit up cornflower blue hues that were watching him. "For an immortal vampire you sure can sleep for a whole day." He tried to lift his head but failed as the heaviness was still set deep inside.

"Day?" He winced at the hoarse voice as he squinted the blurriness from his eyes and realised that the voice belonged to the blond-Caroline.

"Well only 8 hours, not quite a day but it must feel like it I'm sure." He didn't realise he was laying in a bed until Caroline got up from where she had been sitting beside him. "Now, want to explain to me how the hell you ended up in Layfette cemetry of all places?" She asked with a raised brow as she looked across the room to another bed, Klaus lifted his head finally succeding and coming to realise that in the twin bed across the room was Elijah sitting with his back hunched over unlike him.

"You told me the cemetry, Layfette-" Caroline shook her head.

"I told you the _closest_ cemetry. That definitely isn't Layfette, in fact it's the Bayou cemetry. Do try to check your facts _before_ you enter an expression triangle hotspot."

"Expression?" Klaus groaned as he sat up against the headrest, "You do realise expression is the most dangerous forms of magic, right?"

"Of course I do, pretty boy, but do you realise that you are the most feared being on this planet and witches and threats don't mix, especially the expression kind."

"So the bayou, huh?" Klaus swung his legs over the bed, there was no way he was going to stay here any longer, he had business to attend to.

"Katerina Petrova, huh?" Caroline retorted holding back all the information she knew he would love to know.

"It doesn't concern you, love, know why don't you run along and go play with Marcel's minions."

"One, it concerns me completely and two...I played with all of them already, they're no fun." She said with a wink and a click of her tongue.

Klaus held back the chuckle that threatened to escape his throat, "The bayou, it's pretty deep out there."

"Well you know what they say, if you want to get the big fish you're going to have to put on your big-boy panties and get out into the deep water, pretty boy." Caroline said as she tossed him a ring. "Oh and you definitely need to have a talk to Marcel. I don't think he's realised that sending a hoarde of witches after daddy isn't the right thing to do." Klaus furrowed his brow.

"Witches?"

"Well what else do you think took you down, a group of _fairies_?" She rolled her eyes.

For the first time in the past ten minutes Klaus listened to the alarm bells that his senses where creating. He could smell blood, and it didn't belong to himself or Elijah.

"You killed them?"

"Killed is such an evil word. I prefer the phrase 'rearranged their heads', it seems a bit more elegant." Klaus rose from the bed.

"What are you?" He asked curiously, "They could have killed you and yet here you are, alive and they're not. Why?" Caroline tilted her head, her lips curved up into an innocent smile.

"I've got moves, pretty boy, moves that make me very, oh how do I put it, _very unlikely to be targetted."_

"Why?" he asked, his voice had a hard edge and Klas was getting more and more fustrated by the absence of information on the blond stood before him. " _What_ are you?" he stepped closer.

Caroline could feel puffs of breath glide over her face as he spoke. "You want to know?" He stared blankly at her. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Caroline tilted her head looking into his eyes, she nodded to herslef before leaning closer into his ear dropping her voice so that only he would hear.

"I'm part vampire." She whispered, her eyes were on Elijah as he struggled to hear her words, funny that...being a hybrid had it's perks. She pulled away coming to look into Klaus' eyes.

"Hybrid?" He whispered having no recollection of ever turning this blond woman.

"Yes, hybrid." Klaus shook his head not believing her.

"l never turned you."

"Not part werewolf, pretty boy." His brow furrowed as she smirked. "Part _hunter._ " She giggled as his eyes widened.

Caroline turned away from him as she grabbed a bottle of scotch that was sitting on the chest of drawers behind her and gave it to him. "You look like you need it." She smirked pulling away from him and moving towards the door. "Oh and pretty boy..." She turned back to him as he was still trying to understand what she was, "you might want to go easy on that whole' I'm the Original hybrid' thing."

"And why's that?"

"Katerina Petrova, otherwise known as Katherine Pierce...well...she's kind of the leader of all witches in this town. She might set your ass on fire." She winked at him. "Good luck, you look like you'll be needing it."

 **So...how was it?**

 **I'm so sorry about the gap in updates for any of my stories but I've done my mock A2 exams and they didn't go well so I've been putting extra work in, unfortunately that means not being able to update as much as I'd like. I started this chapter late December and it took me whole month to do because I could only spend a few minutes adding to it since I had no time. To me the day is: get up, spend 6 hours working (I work through lunch as well since I have so much work) and the rest of the day is homework and rewriting class notes, (I have no social life because of schoolwork) :(**

 **I hope you all understand but I'll try my best to keep writing little bits and updating as soon as I can.**

 **See you next time :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**I have no idea what happened on this one, one minute I'm revising chemistry and the next I've written 16 pages. You have no idea when motivation springs up :)**

 _ **Caroline is an undercover cop, Klaus is a normal cop. They meet in a strip club.-That's the gist of it so read on :)**_

Klaus observed the strip club for a moment as he ambled towards it the bouncers, he unbuttoned his suit jacket letting it slide against his crisp white shirt as he placed his hands into the pockets of his black suit pants.

"Joseph Morgan." He spoke in a low tone cutting to the front of the queue filled with women and men, half who were eyeing the dimpled blond appreciatively whilst the other half tried to keep their arms slung across they're date's waists.

"Mr. Morgan." the large bouncer looked at his list and nodded as he stepped aside allowing entrance to the club.

Klaus smirked as he entered the doors and was immediately encompassed in the heavy base of the song that filled the building. The strobe lights swept across the room coloring the wall in deep pinks and dark blues hinting at the going-ons in the shadows of the club.

"Scotch on the rocks." Klaus ordered as he ran his eyes appreciatively over the men and woman who were already seated in booths with strippers, male and female, dancing on the middle of the tables around metal poles that reached up to the ceiling of the huge room.

As he sipped the burning ember of the liquid, he glanced at the entrance of the club where he saw his brother Elijah and friend Stefan come in inconspicuously. He held back the grin that threatened to erupt across his lips as he noticed the vague disdain on Elijah's features which was most likely down to the jeans and blazer he was wearing with no attire that the brunette Mikaelson would have classed 'proper'.

Klaus returned his gaze to the front of the club where a stage had been set with several poles dotted across the front that were occupied by scantily dressed women wrapping themselves around the metal poles.

Klaus steeled himself as he saw a young brunette man walk past him towards the front of the room, the blond surreptitiously kept his eyes on the man who was accompanied by two bulky men that moved just behind him. He watched as the brunette man sat down in one of the visible booths as the two muscular men remained standing as if they were his bodyguards. Klaus noticed the hungry look the brunette was aiming at the women that passed him and the scandalous gazes he shared with a waitress that had suddenly, without being notified, brought him a glass of brown liquid which he took a sip form.

Klaus shared a glance with Elijah and Stefan who were sitting in one of the other booths that had a clear view of the brunette. Everything seemed to finally be coming to a head. Klaus knocked the drink back down his throat and slid the glass back to the bartender before proceeding to make his way to the tanned brunette man.

* * *

"For someone who isn't all that into this you sure can keep up the act." Katherine murmured as she ran her fingers through Caroline's curled hair tousling it and making the strands full of volume.

"For someone who doesn't usually give a damn, you certainly have a lot to say tonight." Caroline replied as she adjusted the bottom of the light blue bra-like-top that sat across her chest showing off her midriff yet covering her cleavage only hinting at the ample curves that lay beneath.

Caroline tilted her head as she looked at the reflection in front of her, her ice blue platform heels added to her overall height whilst the short tutu like covering sat across the top of her ass allowing peeks at the flesh beneath that were covered in soft tight light blue short shorts.

She glanced at Katherine whose hair was framing her face in tight, dark brown, curls coming to rest just below her chest. Her scarlet red bra and tutu contrasted greatly against her hair and the black stiletto heels made sure that gazes would linger on the brunette's assets. "Let's get this over and done with." Caroline whispered as Katherine grabbed the hairspray and swiped it across the visible flesh where the edge of her shorts sat. Caroline winced at the cold jet hitting her bare skin but immediately slammed the thought away as the door opened to reveal a pale woman dressed in a scandalous cut out dress which showed off the top of the woman's breasts and didn't even reach mid-thighs.

"You're on in a few minutes, hurry up." The woman ordered as she raised her brow with arms crossed looking displeased at the sight of the two of them.

"We'll be right there Haley." Katherine said in a sugary voice that trio knew was entirely forced.

"There's a lot of customers tonight, don't mess it up." Hayley pursed her lips flicking her hair over her wavy hair over her shoulder as she glared at them momentarily before slamming the door shut behind her as she left.

"I hate her." Katherine groaned out as she stepped away from Caroline allowing the blond to turn to face the brunette, "She's such a little-"

"Let's go." Caroline ordered spraying a hint of perfume on her neck and taking in a deep calming breath as she glanced back into the mirror.

* * *

"Mr. Morgan." Klaus eased into the seat beside the brunette who immediately called over a barley clothed woman who brought over two drinks and placed them on the table.

"Anything else, Mr. Lockwood?" The red-haired woman asked sending teasing glances towards Klaus who returned them with a deep smirk keeping within his character.

"Nothing, Genevieve." Tyler replied turning towards the stage where woman was twirling around poles in rhythm with the pounding beat of the song that filled the large room. "Actually, find out where Candy is, I want her up there now." Tyler ordered not sparing the woman a glance as she narrowed her eyes and walked away.

"Where's the file?" Klaus asked watching the brunette who had his eyes set on the figures on the stage, the question didn't arouse any reply from him which caused Klaus to grit his teeth but push back his annoyance.

"Patience, Mr. Morgan." The pulsing lights and music suddenly stopped to be replaced by a soft melody as the scantily dressed women cleared the stage. "Just sit back and enjoy, we'll get to business later." Tyler murmured before sipping his drink and slouching back into his seat as he awaited the entertainment.

Klaus sighed internally, of course this moron of a man would find a way to make him have to tolerate his presence even longer one way or another. The blond relaxed back into the plush booth seats whilst keeping his alertness high.

* * *

 _Just breath._

 _In and out._

 _This night isn't different to any other._

 _Except this time you'll be getting up close and pers-_

"Candy!"

The blond blinked rapidly as she was catapulted back into reality by Katherine's sharp hiss. Without further hesitation, the blond set her sights on center-stage as she elegantly climbed the steps and moved into the spotlight.

Caroline eyed the silver pole standing in the middle and fluidly moved towards it as the melody suddenly picked up.

 _She gave it all, you gave her shit_

 _She could have done just anything_

Caroline averted her gaze from the people whose eyes she could feel burning every inch of her skin, instead she focused on the cool metal which her fingers wrapped around as she glided her leg around the pole ending back where she started.

 _Or anyone_

 _Cos she's a Goddess_

Her hips swayed naturally with the music as she eased into her next moves, her leg wrapped around the pole and she suddenly felt herself spinning around the metal as if she was flying. Her heels softly landed back on the stage before she set off into a modest twirl.

 _You never got this_

She pushed herself away from the pole to move towards the second pole that was closer to the edge of the stage, her heels lifted from the ground once the blond wrapped her legs around the pole in a bent fashion and spun round with her curls cascading around her face acting as a curtain. Caroline felt herself slow as her momentum decreased and she gracefully kneeled on the floor once she landed.

 _You put her down_

 _You liked her hopeless_

The blond stood up continuing to keep her eyes to herself, her fingers wrapped once more around the pole and she lifted her body up higher to curl into a fetal position before spinning to allow her legs to slice the air like knives.

Caroline moved her hand over her and came to a slow stop before pushing herself away from the second pole onto the final one that stood right at the forefront of the stage, the soft white light shining on her now illuminated her skin. It glistened as it hit the fine sheen of glitter that was sprinkled on her smooth flesh.

 _To walk around, feeling unnoticed_

 _You shoulda crowned her_

Klaus glanced around the bar under the dim lighting as he tried to spot Elijah and Stefan but found himself pushing back the instinctive urge to stride to the men who were ogling his sister, Rebekah, as she placed a tray of drinks on their table. Out of all the female officers in his precinct, his _sister_ had to be the one barely dressed fighting off provocative looks from strange men as she worked undercover on the final day of the assignment.

He spared a look towards the stage and couldn't help but watch the blond woman on stage with an appreciative gaze. She was completely different to the women who had performed before her, her moves were much more elegant and put together. She didn't use the ample curves of her body to draw attention. No, this woman was using the pole as if it was part of her art form just as he used his brush to strike a canvas and detail his story in paint.

 _Cos she's a Goddess_

Caroline dropped down to her knees as she came away from the pole, her fingers reached up towards the sky as the music came to a slow beat, she reached back and grasped the pole in her hands as she pointed out her leg and swiftly pushed her heels against the floor to gain momentum and pull herself up against the metal pole.

Her legs parted in splits as she spun around with the soft lights on her reflecting in the ice blue heels she wore. Her ankles wrapped around the metal and she sighed breathlessly as she released her fingers and proceeded to spin elegantly with her curls cascading to within a breath of the black floor.

 _You're fucking with a Goddess,_

 _and you get a little colder_

Klaus sat mesmerized at the woman on the stage, though this profession was with its negative connotations, the blond on the stage certainly made it look like an art form. The music slowed and the melody began fading away into the background, the blond slowed in rhythm to the beat and came to a stop with her back to the pole.

Caroline breathed out slowly as she finally raised her eyes to observe the crowd. She spotted the brunette sitting in his usual spot-the table right at the center of the club with a direct line of sight to the stage she was standing on.

Her skin continued to burn and it was then that she noticed the man sitting beside Tyler, his blond curls reflected the fraction of light that fell over the table whilst his stunning blue eyes pierced the dark surroundings. She swiftly flicked her gaze back to Tyler who have her a provocative smirk, her lips curved up for a split second before she spun round to face the pole as the deep base began pounding and colored lights erupted to sweep across the stage and customers sitting at the tables.

Caroline smirked once she saw Katherine appear on stage sporting a feline expression, she strode confidently towards Caroline with what appeared to be a whip in her hand. Her smirk widened as she rotated her hips using her assets to draw attention whilst Katherine sliced the whip across the air causing a hissing sound to reverberate through the club.

Klaus kept his expression neutral even though on the inside he became much more intrigued, his eyes were glued onto the blonde's rear asset and he couldn't help the smirk as he saw the brunette stride towards her with a whip in her hand-if Kol was here, he'd have a heart attack right about now.

"My finest pieces."

 _"Brother you couldn't get a tad bit closer, could you?"_ Klaus smirked as he heard Kol's voice through the ear piece he wore, _"You know, to get a nice shot for the assignment of course."_ The blond suppressed the desire to chuckle at his younger brother and instead listened to Tyler continue.

"Candy and Kitty." He gestured towards the girls who were now making their way down the stage steps and were joined with various other dancers as they moved across the floor. "My favourite girls." He murmured under his breath as he pulled away from Klaus and focused all his attentions back on the dancers.

"How about we get our deal over and done with and then enjoy the entertainment?" Klaus suggested, he'd spent weeks preparing for this and his patience was beginning to wear thin.

Tyler turned to face him with a lazy smirk, "You seem stressed Mr. Morgan, how about a nice dance to help you relax." The brunette caught Caroline's eyes as she came closer shaking her hips as the music pounded around the club. He gestured her over and lifted his hand as she slipped her fingers across his palm allowing him to catch them. "Candy, meet Mr. Morgan. A client." He pulled the blond onto his lap, he traced his fingers along her bare thigh before he slapped her ass making her move across towards Klaus who gazed into her cornflower blue eyes.

"Hello, honey." She said softly as she proceeded to straddle him and push herself against his chest with a lascivious smirk. "Sit back," she whispered as she pushed him further back into his seat, "and relax."

Caroline's pretty facade remained air-tight as she moved her fingers across the man's stubble and into the curls at the back of his head. She pressed herself against his chest feeling the hard, lean planes of muscle that were hidden under his shirt.

Klaus watched her carefully as she moved over him, he could feel the beginnings of arousal as she swerved her hips against him, his fingers slowly moved towards her thighs as she continued to move slowly.

"Feeling relaxed yet, honey?" She whispered into his ear softly as her blond curls ran along his cheek, Caroline bit her lip as she felt his fingers settle on her flesh. The deep burn his touch caused was unlike anything she had felt before. It _unsettled_ her.

"Careful, Kitty is quite possessive." Klaus heard Tyler mutter as he tore his eyes from the blond hovering over him. He saw the tall brunette with the whip making her way towards them, her eyes were on the blond continuing to swerve her hips over him. "Candy, say bye to the nice man."

Caroline felt the urge to strangle Tyler, the feeling was a daily occurrence whenever he introduced her to a new 'business-partner'. Caroline caught a moan before it managed to escape her lips, the man's fingers brushed against her skin and the pleasure the simple touch brought had her on the edge. She moved once more over him grazing her nails along his scalp, her eyes narrowed as she caught something settled in his ear.

 _Earpiece_

"Candy." Caroline breathed a sigh of relief which Klaus thought seemed to be a subtle moan in his ear.

 _"Tell me that's not what I think it is, brother. We're sitting in a van whilst you're getting full view of that juicy blond-"_

 _"Kol, enough. Focus Niklaus."_ Elijah said as he watched his younger brother

Klaus allowed the blond to slip from his fingers but not before giving her a salacious smirk as she returned it with one that had deviousness set deep within her eyes. "Kitty, I was having such a good time." The blond - _Candy-_ said fluttering her eyelashes and pouting.

"Don't be such a greedy, naughty girl Candy. Remember sharing is caring." The brunette - _Kitty-_ responded playing with the black whip in her hand. "Look at poor Mr. Lockwood, he must be feeling pretty lonely." Kitty smirked before lashing out the whip across Candy's behind causing her to jump forward.

"I'm sorry Mr. Lockwood." Candy said with a lilt to her lips as she straddled his lap whilst Kitty moved away. Klaus stretched his fingers as he itched to run them over the blonde's smooth flesh, the feel of her under his touch awoken something in the blond that he hadn't felt in a while.

 _This is not the time nor the place, Klaus!_

Klaus sighed internally before he straightened and put himself back in character. "Easy, Candy." He rolled his eyes internally as he watched Tyler give the blond a goofy grin as she moved over him.

Caroline wanted to vomit. All over the brunette. But she couldn't for obvious reasons. She ran her fingers over his chest along his suit jacket and entwined her fingers into his dark hair, she smirked as she pulled it back with one hand and hovered over him. Her hips swayed against the beat and swiveled as the deep base resonated throughout the club. "Is this ok Mr. Lockwood?" She whispered seductively into his ear before turning her face and shooting Klaus a wicked grin and wink.

Klaus' lips stretched into a smirk as he shook his head and looked away, he had to get this whole thing back on track and finally get the file he worked so damn hard to get. As he prepared to interrupt the little session between the blond and Tyler the music stopped abruptly and sirens began blaring throughout the club. It was a few seconds before panic erupted in the club, the dancers swiftly moved towards the exits as the commotion got louder.

Klaus stood immediately looking around to spot Elijah and Stefan looking as worried as he felt. He saw his sister push past people towards as she shrugged her shoulders and tried to figure out what their next move was going to be.

He turned trying to spot Tyler who he rushed after once he saw him suddenly become guarded by security men, "Lockwood, our deal!" He hissed as he reached the brunette.

"Bad luck, man, deal's off." He said before pushing Klaus' hand off his arm and was led away by his guards. Klaus ran his fingers through his hair as he spun round trying to figure out how to tackle the situation at hand. There was no way Tyler would renew the deal, he was known for his 'show once and never again' policy he held with his clients.

 _"Someone set off the alarms, I'm trying to get them off again but someone is overriding the system, Nik."_

This was their one and only chance and it had been blown by the imbecile who set off the fire alarms.

 _"What's our next move?"_ Klaus heard Stefan ask over the earpiece, he glanced at Tyler again and suddenly an idea sparked.

"Rebekah, I need you to lift the file from his jacket." He said clearly making sure there was no loss of words between him and his sister who blinked rapidly and swiftly followed orders making her way towards Lockwood.

Rebekah hurried after Tyler and his guards before he made the exit, she navigated through the panicking crowd at the door and pushed her way in front of Tyler with her back to him. Taking a deep breath, the blond spun on her heel.

"Oh my gosh, my bag! It has all my contacts in it!' She shrieked jumping up and down as she peaked her head over Tyler's as the latter tried to push her out of his way. "I'm so sorry!" She said loudly over the blaring alarm as she grabbed onto his jacket, "Sorry!" She repeated as she stumbled against him trying to reach into his pocket. She shifted mirroring him and moved closer feigning a push as she swiped her hand into his pocket.

"Get out of the way." Tyler ordered pushing Rebekah aside as he strode past through the exit wiping his suit jacket.

"Did you get it?" Klaus asked once he got to his sister, she turned and shook her head.

"It wasn't there." She said with confusion etched on her face. "It should have been there." She muttered to herself.

Klaus let out a frustrated growl, "Everybody back to the van." He ordered before grabbing Rebekah's arm and pulling her out of the club alongside him

 _"Well that went to shit rather quickly."_ Klaus pulled his earpiece out placing it in his pocket having heard enough of his brother's annoying voice.

"Come on." He hissed to Rebekah pulling her into a side street where the dark van was waiting them. "We'll discuss your expertise in pickpocketing, sister, a skill I thought you'd mastered when you were a teenager." Klaus vented completely annoyed at the direction the deal had suddenly taken.

* * *

Caroline pulled her coat closer around her to cover the barely-there clothing she wore, Katherine lingered behind her as she tried to hide the whip in her jacket pocket but it wouldn't fit.

"At least if we're stuck out here I can easily get us a cab." She lashed the whip across the brick wall, "I'm sure there's a few submissive cab drivers around this town." The blond rolled her eyes as she placed her earpiece into her ear waiting for the voice on the other end.

 _"Hello, gorgeous..."_

* * *

"What's our next move?" Klaus sighed running his fingers down his face trying to wipe away the exhaustion painted on his features.

"We need another in." He replied to Marcel who was sat on the opposite side of the van in front of the computers. "What I don't understand is how the hell the alarms were set off and why you couldn't stop them?" He raised his brow as he hunched over ready to listen to any forthcoming explanations.

"Someone hacked the system like we did."

"And you didn't notice?" Klaus tilted his face with a confused expression.

"No, because whoever did this, they were a pro _and_ they were here long before we were." Kol turned back towards the computer monitors as he typed in a few keys. "They jumped into the system undetected and guessing by the decrypted data I'm looking at," he hummed in surprise as his fingers froze over the keyboard, "they were here _months_ before us."

Klaus swiftly got up making his way to Kol to look over his shoulder. " _Months?"_ He hissed in disbelief.

"Personal space, brother." Kol muttered pushing the blond back a few inches. "Yes months, four to be exact."

"Who the bloody hell was it?" Klaus growled.

Kol focused his eyes on the screen as codes flew past and the rhythmic tapping filled the empty air. "I…" Kol squinted.

"Well?"

"I don't know." Kol shook his head, "I-I can't find any trace leading back to the source. Whoever did this isn't a pro, they're a bloody _genius."_

"Someone get me something!" Klaus hissed frustrated at the turn of events. The case had been going swimmingly but a few moments from the final hurdle and it had all fallen apart. _So close yet so far._

"We'll have to find a new way in, another deal will make Lockwood too suspicious. We need to go in in an inconspicuous way, nothing obvious or direct this time." Alaric stated as he sifted through the Lockwood case file cautiously, "we've already hit the strip joint, it says they host multiple galas. How about one of them?" Klaus wiped his hand down his face.

"No time and definitely not as subtle as I would like." He sighed as he glanced back at the screens in front of Kol but came to a slow still as one of the screens monitoring the surroundings of the van drew his attention.

"What else do you suggest then?" Klaus' lips split into a grin as he continued to watch the monitor. He slowly took off his suit jacket and rolled his sleeves up before reaching into the side draw and pulling out his badge.

"Hold that thought, Marcel with me." He ordered as he grabbed his gun and stepping out of the black van into the alley way.

"What's up Klaus?" Marcel asked as he blindly followed the blond down the alley.

"Shhh." Klaus hushed him as he peaked around the corner of the alley and grinned.

"What is it?" His friend whispered.

"Our way in." Klaus replied as he confidently strode round the corner. "NYPD. Freeze." He demanded pulling out his gun and aiming it towards the end of the alley.

* * *

"Take your damn time, Enzo." Caroline hissed pressing her finger against the piece in her ear. She sighed as watched Katherine aimlessly lash the whip against the brick wall in boredom. "How about you do something a little more constructive with your time, hmm?"

"This _is_ constructive, I'm beginning to like the idea of being a dominatrix," she shrugged her shoulders before smirking and striking the whip against the wall once more, "good practice and all."

Caroline rolled her eyes, "I honestly don't want to know who you're thinking of in place of that wall." She muttered under her breath as she tucked her coat closer around her barely clothed body. She glanced at her phone and rolled her eyes, "Come on Enzo." She murmured wondering how long they would have to wait for someone to pick them up.

"NYPD. Freeze!" Both women's heads snapped up to the voice.

Caroline narrowed her eyes as she saw who the voice belonged to. "You've got to be kidding me." She muttered before raising her hands slowly. She heard Katherine slice her whip against the air as she moved beside Caroline.

"Put the whip down!" Katherine smirked at the dark-skinned man who kept his gun aimed at the brunette whilst the blond man edged towards them. " _Put it down_ " he stressed once more before Katherine dropped it to the ground and slowly raised her hands mimicking Caroline.

"Turn around. Slowly." Klaus ordered watching the women carefully for any getaway motions or tell-tale signs of running.

Caroline couldn't help the twitch at the corner of her lips as she saw his gun up high aiming directly at her. She internally rolled her eyes as she turned following the blonde's order. " _Той е полицай_ _"_ Caroline murmured.

Katherine's eyes widened in amusement as she translated the Bulgarian words, ' _he's a cop',_ part of the brunette wanted to laugh in the blond man's face as she hesitated for a second letting her eyes roam over Klaus' features. She recognized him from the club and it definitely wasn't hard to put the pieces together. Lockwood wasn't only under their own surveillance, it appeared as if the whichever precinct these two belonged to was also after the brunette man that had fled.

"Don't move." Klaus demanded as he neared the blond whilst Marcel moved towards Katherine. He put his gun away and pulled out handcuffs instead which he placed around Caroline's wrists once he'd pulled down her arms not-so-gently.

Caroline hissed and narrowed her eyes at the blond as he smirked. "Easy, officer."

"Hello, Candy." He said with a hint of amusement as he turned her round. Caroline immediately cleared her face of emotion and didn't reply to his greeting.

Klaus couldn't help the smirk that spread across his lips, seeing her in the full light of day certainly accentuated every feature of hers, the way her green-blue eyes pierced into his had his mouth drying up in need of water.

"And you must be Kitty." He darted his eyes towards the brunette who smirked and batted her eyelashes.

"Did I do something wrong, officer?" She looked at Marcel and leaned towards him, "Are you going to _spank me_ for being a naughty Kitty?" She asked in a seductive voice.

"No, but you are coming to the precinct with us, _Kitty."_ Marcel pulled Katherine along the alley as Klaus held onto Caroline and pulled her along.

"You haven't arrested me for anything, Officer, and I'm definitely not agreeing to come down to any station so let me go." The smile dropped from Katherine's face.

Marcel knew this and looked towards Klaus for advice, after all it was the blonde who came charging in with handcuffs without even explaining what was about to go down.

"Well, ladies, it seems as if you've been working for the leader of a prostitution ring and since I saw both of you being very _sweet_ with him I'm going to go out on a limb and say you've got information which we'd love to know so we're going to the station or I can send you straight to the FBI who would be _ecstatic_ to hold onto the pair of you instead." His words dripped with nonchalance and ease as they left his lips.

Caroline narrowed her eyes before giving him an ice cold glare as he nodded with satisfaction. "The easy way it is then." Klaus said as he gestured for Marcel to continue with the brunette as he brought the blond along with him.

Caroline gritted her teeth as she was pulled towards a black van, the door slid open as another man dressed in casual attire stepped out and watched the incoming group. "Niklaus, care to explain?" He eyed the two females and raised his brow waiting for an answer.

Klaus smirked as he pushed Caroline in as Marcel did the same, both women glared at the group of people that was now surrounding them in the van before they were pushed back into the chairs at the back of the van.

"I think I've found our in." He murmured under his breath as he kept his eyes on the blond who simply sat back and crossed her bare legs- _legs that went on for miles._

* * *

"Where is she?" Klaus demanded as he buttoned up his new shirt and walked past officers sat at their desks.

"Interrogation room 3." He got a reply from Finn who tapped his pen against the desk as he looked at the investigation board that Klaus had just walked past.

The blond made his way into the well-lit room with where Caroline was sitting staring at the double mirror panel which allowed those on the other side of the screen to see into the room whilst it acted like a mirror for those inside.

"Candice Smith." Klaus spoke as he slapped a brown file onto the metal table and sat on the chair across from the blond who eyed him curiously. He leaned back in his chair just as Caroline copied the move earning a smirk from the Klaus. "Born 13th May 1987, abandoned by your parents when you were just a child. Brought up at the halfway house in Virginia. No boyfriend, no house, no car." He looked up at her from the file. "Arrested on prostitution charges three times along with your little friend, Karina Peterson." He tapped at the file, "And then we've got a long, hefty lists of arrests ranging from auto-theft to breaking and entering." He paused for a moment to look at the blond in front of him who stared at him with no emotion. "Look, Miss Smith, you're facing charges of prostitution and seeing as you are a repeat offender it looks like your facing 4 years. But," he leaned in setting his arms on the table, "I'm sure I got make all that go away for a little help." She didn't speak. "Your boss, Tyler Lockwood, is wanted for more things than you can count so I'm going to keep this simple. You talk and I let you walk. No charges, no trouble."

Caroline blinked. Her head tilted to the side as she let her eyes peruse over him, her lips curved up into a smirk which mesmerized Klaus.

The spell broke.

She lifted her head back and lost the lilt to her lips as she sat back with a stone cold expression portraying no emotion.

Klaus waited. She didn't speak. He sighed before shaking his head and getting up from his seat. "Now would be a good time to speak up, Miss Smith before I get those charges processed. 4 years, sweetheart. Are you sure you want to be wasting those years in a hellhole?" She didn't speak and kept her eyes focused on the mirror. He gritted his teeth before leaving the room frustrated.

Elijah left the room on the other side of the mirror to meet up with his younger brother, "She knows something." He declared buttoning up his suit jacket finally feeling comfortable in his daily clothes.

"But she's not willing to talk. How about Peterson, has she said anything yet?"

"I'm about to do her interview now." He said as he grabbed a file from his desk and made his way to another room where the brunette was waiting.

Elijah took in a deep breath before striding determinedly into the room but carefully shutting the door behind him. He lay the file gently onto the table and sat opposite the brunette wearing a smirk as her eyes ran over his figure appreciatively.

"Well if it isn't Mr. Suit and Tie." Katherine remarked as she swiped her tongue over her lips.

"Officer Mikaelson, if you don't mind Miss Peterson." Katherine couldn't help the grin that erupted across her lips. He looked up at the brunette with an intense gaze before he proceeded to ask questions. "What was your association with Tyler Lockwood?"

Katherine stayed silent for a few moments under Elijah's gaze, she shrugged nonchalantly, "He's a customer at the club where your guys picked me and my friend up."

"You are a dancer at the club, yes?" She nodded. "How _close_ would you say your interactions have been with Mr. Lockwood?"

Katherine released a deep breath as she leaned back. "And here we begin what is known as the initial confrontation. During this phase in interrogation, the interrogator may invade the suspect's personal space in order to increase their discomfort." She leaned bit her lower lip, "You want to invade my _personal space?"_ She asked seductively as a smirk lingered on her lips.

Elijah narrowed his eyes, "3 days ago a man named Mason Lockwood came into the club, did you see him?"

"Mason…hmm…describe him?" He pulled out a photo from the file and placed it in front of her. "I can't seem to recall. There were an infinite number of customers there. It's hard to spot a single man like this when they're all vying for your attention." She pouted as she leaned towards him setting her fingers on the table, "I'm sorry, _Officer,_ but I'm sure I can _compensate_ if you let me." She murmured as her eyes ran over his body without hesitation.

"Miss Peterson, you should know that Candice has told us everything." Katherine raised her brow, "And from what I can gather the charges she faces will be dropped whilst yours will not be _unless_ you tell me something in relation to Mr. Lockwood or the dealings which he has held in the club."

Katherine wanted to scoff at him and point out that his tactics were not working on her but instead she allowed him to carry on down his path. "Was there anything unusual about Mr. Lockwood that you noticed this past week?"

"No."

"Did he seem agitated?"

"No."

"Did he seem as if he was anxious?"

"No." Elijah sighed, he was getting nowhere with this woman.

"Well what did his behavior over the past week suggest to you?"

"That he was nothing more than a boy looking for a nice screw." She answered as she looked down at her nails and wondering when she should get her next manicure.

"Miss Peterson, it would be beneficial to the both of us if you were more cooperative."

"And that's where we agree to disagree, Officer. What would benefit me the most would be going back to work. And _you,_ you need someone to ruffle those _stiff_ feathers of yours. Preferably a good _long_ ruffling."

Elijah bit his tongue, this woman was offering nothing to help the case, he would have to talk to the others to find a way to proceed with both ladies seeing as neither was willing to cooperate. The officer got up swiping the file off the table and left the room without turning back to Katherine. The brunette woman grinned at the feeling of satisfaction at having slightly unhinged the man.

* * *

"Neither seems to have a problem at facing charges which doesn't sit well with me. They're both working girls trying to earn their living and yet being put away for some time didn't affect them at all." Elijah commented as he stood in front of the entire Squad-Klaus, Kol, Marcel, Rebekah, Stefan and Finn. The only person missing was Alaric, the Captain, who had been called away moments before the meeting was called. "Which makes them a liability if we ask either to work against Lockwood."

Klaus sat back on the desk chair as he faced Elijah, "We've got to get to them." He murmured. "Ok, Marcel find some info on Peterson, anything that we could use to find a direct connection. Rebekah you do the same for Smith. Finn and Stefan try to find alternatives if we can't run with those two." Klaus pushed himself up from his chair, "Kol what have we got for the override at the club?"

"Turns out they got in precisely 8:15 am on the 19th 5 months ago. A transmitter was attached to the alarm which could be controlled remotely from any device," Klaus sighed, " _But,_ I'm trying to trace the IP address that actually set the alarm off. I'm halfway there but it could take me some time, whoever was behind this had extensive knowledge of computers. The closer I get the more booby-traps and false-windows I face." Seeing the blank faces of his colleagues, he rolled his eyes, "Red herrings and miss-directions basically." They nodded in understanding. "What about you two?" Kol asked gesturing towards Klaus and Elijah.

"We're going to try to get them talking again." Elijah nodded in agreement as they both left the room ad made their way first towards Katherine's room.

"The blond seems to be quieter than her." Elijah noted as they grew closer to the room, "From what I've seen she seems to be the one with the eyes and ears but reluctant to let onto what she knows."

"Even I figured that one out, Elijah."

Klaus grinned but it soon fell away once they entered the room to see it empty. The blond narrowed his eyes and turned towards the other interrogation room making his way towards where the blond should be waiting.

"Is it possible they were moved?" Elijah asked slowly as they opened the door to see the other room empty and no blond in sight.

Klaus shook his head. "They weren't supposed to be moved, but I bet you one of those rookies-"

"If I could have your attention, folks." Klaus and Elijah looked towards their captain who was standing in front of his office with 3 new faces in tow. "I'd like to introduce officers from Chicago, they'll be assisting us on one of our open cases. These are Officers Augustine, Bennet and Salvatore."

"Salvatore?" Klaus muttered looking at the dark-haired man in question who was smirking ridiculously behind an ebony-skinned female as she stood tapping away at the phone in her fingers.

"Klaus, get your team into the meeting room." Alaric ordered as he gestured for the trio beside him to enter it first.

"The only open case we have that would attract his much attention is the Lockwood case." Elijah commented.

"Now why would Chicago PD be interested in Lockwood?" He asked quietly as he called over his team leading them into the meeting room.

"Damon?" Stefan said as he walked in.

"Hello, brother, missed me?" The dark haired man asked as he sat back on one of the chairs.

"You could have told me you were coming into town." Stefan said. Damon rolled his eyes.

"Trust me, it's nothing personal little brother but at least you know I'm here now."

"Can we cut the family reunion there, mate, we've got things to do, people to arrest." Officer Augustine interrupted allowing Alaric to step up.

"Before we go any further with this little _intervention,_ our detainees have gone missing." Klaus said through gritted teeth. His eyes snapped up when he heard a deep chuckle. "Problem, Officer Augustine?"

"Please, it's Enzo, mate. And no, no problem." Enzo chuckled once more, "I'm just not seeing how you could be trusted with our case when you can't even keep a couple of prisoners under check."

"You mean _our_ case and those prisoners-"

"Are us." Everyone's heads rose to the owner of the voice. It was the brunette woman but she was now standing fully clothed in a black heel, jeans and shirt ensemble instead of the black coat and lingerie she was previously wearing. "Caroline is just on the phone to Silas."

"But you're- "Elijah began but was interrupted by the brunette.

"We haven't officially met, I'm Katherine Pierce." She held out her hand towards him, "It's a pleasure to meet you _, Officer Mikaelson."_ He wrapped his fingers around her hand and shook it gently.

"Caroline is the blond that was with you?" Klaus asked curiously.

"Yep, now, someone want to fill them in _before_ Caroline blows up at him?" She Katherine gestured at Klaus who tilted his head.

"What did he do?" Bonnie asked speaking for the first time since she'd arrived.

"Oh you'll find out soon." She strode further into the room. "And Enzo, timing certainly isn't one of your many qualities is it?"

"Blame him." He pointed at Damon who shrugged and glanced at Katherine.

"Oh don't look at me with those judgy little eyes, I needed a drink, I didn't know you were going to call at the exact moment my bourbon arrived did I?"

Katherine pursed her lips with a roll of her eyes. "Well the next time you're in a situation and need my help, I'll be sipping sangrias on a beach on the other side of the planet."

"Well good to know-"

"Are you two going to keep going at it or stop at some point for everyone to be put on the same page?" Rebekah groaned as she rolled her neck in exhaustion at the scene. Katherine and Damon both glared at the blond Mikaelson who shrugged.

"Finally." Alaric muttered as silence filled the room. "Right. It seems as if our investigation into Lockwood was flagged by Chicago PD, whilst we were looking into him for trying to sell encrypted arms deal information, they," he gestured towards the quartet from Chicago, "were watching him for over 4 months and trying to connect him to various other activities." He allowed Damon to carry on.

"From what we've gathered, he's part of a much bigger plan, so far we've got him on extortion, running a sex-trafficking ring and drug smuggling across various states."

"So this is much bigger than we originally thought?" Kol muttered, "Wait. _You_ set of the alarms at the club." He declared as it began clicking together.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have had to if it wasn't for your dumbass move to rewire the signal." Bonnie said sassily

" _You_ did all the hacking?" Bonnie raised her brow.

"Why do you seem so surprised?" She asked glaring at him. "Just because I'm a woman you think I can't _hack_?" Kol's jaw dropped slightly before he quickly corrected himself and pasted a smirk on his face as he looked at Bonnie with lusting eyes.

"Oh definitely not, darling." He smirked letting his eyes roam over her figure without guilt.

"Once you've stopped ogling her," Elijah slapped his hand across the back of Kol's head, "I'm assuming you want us to work together."

"Yes." Alaric replied. "Team leaders will coordinate with each other so both teams are fully read into the case."

"So me and you." Klaus said with a sigh as he looked at Enzo who grinned.

"Not me, mate." He said causing Klaus to look at each of their faces as they all shook their heads.

"So who?"

"That'd be me." Caroline said as she strode in having changed from simply wearing her coat to blue jeans, boots and a grey waistcoat covering a plain white shirt. Her arms were adorned with bracelets ranging from various colors to simple silvers. "Caroline Forbes." He nodded to the NYPD team as she moved towards Alaric.

" _Lieutenant_ Caroline Forbes. She was drafted in from San Francisco to help the Chicago team and she'll be acting as their team leader as you work together." Alaric said enthusiastically. "I'm sure you'll all get on well together so I'm going to leave you to it to get Lockwood." He said before making his way out of the room.

"So you're not Chicago PD?" Finn asked as he looked at Caroline who shook her head.

"Nope, San Francisco born and raised." She stated proudly before her eyes turned to Klaus who was watching her with intrigue.

"You were at the club." He stated remembering the little dance she did for him.

"As were you, Mikaelson." She returned tilting her head.

"Well, I'm sure it's going to be a _pleasure_ to be working with you, _sweetie."_

' _Feeling relaxed yet, sweetie?'_ Caroline's words were as clear as day in both their minds.

"I'm sure it will, Niklaus."

"Please, call me Klaus." The blonde's shared a heated gaze.

"If you're done with the eye-sex, I'm sure we've got a case to work on." Katherine teased as she sat beside Damon leaning back to set her heels on the table crossing her ankles which were swiftly pushed aside by Elijah who sat next to her.

Rolling her eyes, Caroline tore her gaze away from Klaus and reached into her fingers into her bra causing everyone to look at her intrigued before she pulled out a little USB stick. "This is what we were both after." She commented as she stuck the USB into the screen on the wall causing filed to flash up. "Let's se what we've got then."

The next hour consisted of both teams catching up on the other's progress and knowledge. Each of them held a copy of the file on Lockwood.

"Seeing as this is going to take a while," Bonnie began standing up, "I'll get us some food."

"I'll join you." Kol quickly said standing as well and following Bonnie towards the door.

"Oh just one moment, seeing as it does include you too Kol. I've just got a few words to say." Everyone listened up as Caroline kept her eyes on the file being held between her hands, her eyes scanned over the words even though they had nothing to do with the words she was about to say.

She could feel Klaus' heated gaze on her, "If any one of you," she raised her eyes jumping from Finn all the way to Klaus which they finally halted on, "even thinks about trying to pull a stunt like false arrest again," she glared at Klaus, "I'll have your badge quicker than you can say my name." She looked intently at Klaus as he looked at her as if he was a deer caught in headlights. "In fact, I will have you barred from _ever_ working in an official police department in the future and have all your recommendations shredded." Klaus swallowed hard. "Is. That. Clear?" She asked keeping her eyes locked onto the blond Mikaelson as she raised her perfectly curved eyebrow.

"Crystal." Klaus answered wincing at the hoarseness of his voice. Caroline smirked.

"Glad to know we're on the same page." She murmured.

"Told you so." Katherine sang breaking the silence that had descended upon the room.

Caroline looked towards Bonnie, "How about Chinese?" She asked innocently.

"I'll see what I can do." Bonnie replied trying to fight back the laugh which was fighting to come out.

Caroline sat back in her chair picking up the file once more, "Oh and '4 years' on prostitution charges?" She scoffed, "At least make it realistic." She muttered keeping her eyes on the words in front of her.

There was a beat of silence before Katherine broke it. "Oh, quick-question, when do you think I can get my whip back? I paid retail price for that." She said fluttering her eyelashes innocently.

Elijah sighed, "I'm sure we can work something out." Katherine turned to him and couldn't help but smirk once more.

"I like the sound of that." She murmured seductively earning scoffs and eye-rolls from around the table.

 **I hope you liked that one, the song at the beginning was Goddess by Banks which is beautifully epic. For those who haven't heard it I suggest you do since you have no idea what you're missing out on.**

 **The reason for my absence from updating is pretty obvious-school, revision blah, blah, blah. It's getting pretty close to exam season but my last exam is on 28th June so I should be updating regularly after that. Hopefully (fingers-crossed).**

 **I'll see you next time...bye:)**


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